Summer Lovin'
by RoyallyFamiliar
Summary: Follows Kurt and Blaine through their summer as Blaine deals with his family's reservations about his sexuality and the New Directions write a musical to help get them to Nationals next year. Rating: MA for smut. Fluffy Klaine love, comedy, some drama.
1. Chapter 1: Picking Up Where We Left Off

Kurt Hummel's mouth was scalded, his throat positively sore, his pride wounded from the rushed response that came out of his mouth as a result of Blaine's surprise attempt to give him a heart attack.

But his heart was soaring. As he and Blaine left the Lima Bean shortly after spotting Sam and Mercedes surreptitiously join hands, and it took Kurt all he could do not to squeeze Blaine's hand to the point of losing circulation. He kept stealing looks down at Blaine as they walked to Blaine's car, and from the smirk on Blaine's face as he opened the passenger side door for Kurt, it seemed Blaine was well aware of Kurt's lovedrunk happiness. Kurt delicately slid down into the car, crossing his legs and beaming up at Blaine as he gently shut the door.

Blaine came around and got into the driver's seat, passing his bag gently to Kurt to put down by his feet. As Kurt and Blaine's fingers brushed over the smooth leather of Blaine's bag, the boys' eyes met sharply.

"We're taking a detour to the park." Blaine said decisively, his chest a little tight and his words coming as more of a command than he intended. "Besides, it won't take too long to pick out the sheet music." He said, trying to correct his barking command. Blaine bit his lip. His fingers against Kurt's reminded him that other than death-grip hand holding and the string of kisses when Blaine picked Kurt up, they hadn't really touched since Kurt had left for New York.

That statistic just couldn't hold.

"Okay…" Kurt said, blushing a bit and looking down at his hands in his lap before stealing a glance at Blaine as the brunette buckled his seatbelt and moved to back the car out of the parking spot. His jaw was clenched, and Kurt couldn't help but notice the strain on his neck.

"The park sounds good to me," he said demurely, buckling himself in as well. Blaine flashed a glance to Kurt that stole Kurt's breath. How fast could they possibly get to this park?

The two pulled into the park in what Kurt assumed had to be record time, with slightly aggressive driving on the part of one usually controlled Blaine Anderson. Blaine quickly turned the car off into one of the more secluded wooded areas of the park, pulling off at a picnic site that was flooded from a recent rain. Parking the car, Blaine looked over to Kurt, locking eyes in anticipation before simultaneously unbuckling and getting out of the car, getting in the backseat. Blaine was practically throwing himself into the backseat of the car while Kurt was meticulously trying to look inconspicuous.

Before Kurt could finish pulling the door delicately shut beside him, Blaine was already crawling across the seat and pulling Kurt's face to his, pressing his lips to Kurt's without allowing the boy to catch a breath first. Kurt quickly slammed the door before leaning back into the kiss, pressing Blaine back in an impressive show of mutual force.

"My God." Blaine whispered as Kurt forced him to allow him to breathe. Smiling, Kurt threw himself back into the kiss and entered Blaine's mouth with his tongue as Blaine opened his to gasp. Kurt giggled at how they both tasted like coffee, their mouths hot against each other.

Eventually Kurt was laying on top of Blaine, kissing down Blaine's chin and neck. Blaine gasped as Kurt sucked at the soft flesh just under his chin, a previously undiscovered sensitive spot. Kurt grinned, pecking his way up to Blaine's ear.

"So does this mean I get to start telling you how much I love you every time the thought strikes?" Kurt asked gently, kissing the hollow of Blaine's ear.

Blaine whimpered, missing Kurt's mouth against his. "You better." He said, stroking down Kurt's face with the tips of his fingers. Immediately Kurt and his roasted taste were returned to him. Blaine cupped a hand around Kurt's neck, knowing Kurt wouldn't take well to a hand in his hair.

"So why'd you start now? I almost feel like you weren't listening to a word I was saying…" Kurt teased, dragging Blaine's lips with his. Blaine laughed, placing his hand at the side of Kurt's head, his thumb gently at Kurt's temple.

"I was going to say I missed you, but at the same time I was thinking about how your tie and jacket reminded me of you trying to blend in with Dalton uniforms the day we met, and it just kind of felt like a good idea so I went with it." Blaine said, leaning up to kiss Kurt, feeling the heat in Kurt's face rise as he blushed.

"Well I missed you too, " Kurt pressed his lips softly against Blaine, "and I love you too," he said again, kissing Blaine again, this time met with such force that it was hard to break away to speak again, "and my imitation Dalton uniform was marvelous!" Blaine's arms were locked around Kurt's back, pulling the younger boy back to his smiling lips before the end of the word had fallen off his lips.

"It _was_ marvelous, Kurt, but for all the wrong reasons for what you were doing. It would never belong at Dalton. It was too nice, too spectacular and too unique. " Blaine whispered, sitting up and resting his forehead against Kurt's, kissing him lightly after each adjective. Somehow, Kurt knew Blaine wasn't really talking about the shiny black (hey, it wasn't Kurt's fault the colors on Dalton's website were off) jacket and solid red tie he had worn to spy on the Warblers.

"You were the most incredible person to ever walk through the doors of Dalton, Kurt. " Blaine said, taking Kurt's hands in his on their legs between them. "It took me too long to figure my end of it out, but somehow I wasn't too late." Kurt saw Blaine's eyes downcast a bit at his last thought, as though speculating what the alternative could be. Kurt reached up and brushed a finger across Blaine's temple, making a face in protest as some of Blaine's hair gel came off on his thumb before settling back into that caring expression Blaine loved.

"Not too late. " Kurt said, stroking Blaine's temple again and making an even larger face at the gel on his finger. Blaine laughed, pulling a tissue out of a pack on the floor and wiping Kurt's thumb clean, holding it in both of his hands and kissing the tip of his thumb as he finished.

"I think we have a summer to plan, Blaine Anderson." Kurt said, smiling up at the dark-headed boy. Blaine's lips twisted into a smile.

"I'm sorry, am I Blaine Anderson again?" He said, amused at the use of his actual name. Kurt grinned.

"School's out. Blaine Warbler is off the clock. The first thing to go is that horrible hair gel. Once you get out of the school uniform there's no need to go around looking like a news anchor."

Blaine attempted to pout at the offense against his hair products, but he couldn't manage it for more than a second.

"Okay, okay! You have me, curls and all. But we better get to the music store before it closes." He said, sighing.

Kurt grinned as the two got out of the car and back into the front. Blaine reached over and lightly took Kurt's hand in his on the armrest, giving it a light squeeze as he backed out of the space and headed for the music store.

**Author's Note: This is my first go at Kurt x Blaine, so let me know what you think. Like I said in the description… the M rating is for later chapters, and I promise I won't disappoint! I have a lot of plans for the gentlemen in this story… and it'll be both happy and sad. I hope to stay completely canon, though I'm worried since I don't have a way to go back and rewatch all the shows this season to make sure. Anyway, enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2: A Quiet Night at the Hummels'

That evening Kurt and Blaine sat in Kurt's living room after dinner, working on Blaine's audition piece. They had picked out "The Ladies' Choice" from the newer Hairspray movie because it played up Blaine's biggest strength: making Kurt and anyone else attracted to men swoon. It was also fresh, so Blaine felt pretty well-assured it wouldn't be over-sung at the audition.

Kurt was sitting at his mother's piano, plucking out strings of notes for Blaine whenever he was having trouble with a sequence and hitting play on the background track. Blaine was standing in the middle of the room using a broom as a microphone stand. As other members of the household moved through the house, they'd stop to listen for a second, chuckling at Blaine's use of the broom.

"Dude, where'd you learn to do that?" Finn asked after watching Blaine let the broom almost fall down before kicking it up again while spinning and singing into it. Blaine stopped singing and smiled at Finn.

"Old movies, mostly. Going to shows, too. Come on, try it! It's not hard."

"Oh, no, Blaine, don't do it. Didn't you hear what he did to Rachel's nose?" Kurt said quickly, standing up and dragging his boyfriend away from his stepbrother by the arm. Finn shot Kurt a mock glare as Blaine laughed.

"Just treat it like a girl, that's what one of the teachers in a workshop I went to said. Of course, that advice didn't really do much for me." Blaine said, winking at Kurt. Kurt just rolled his eyes.

"Again, not advice that's going to do much for him."

"Hey! I pulled off that gentleman stuff for Rachel in New York!" Finn said defensively, turning to Kurt.

"Until you pounced on her face and lost us nationals." Kurt said, and Blaine felt that if they had been any younger, Kurt would be sticking out his tongue.

"I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't snuck her off to a Broadway stage and made her think I was holding her back." Finn said, a little disgruntled. Kurt sighed, his bitchiness falling away.

"That wasn't the point of sneaking in and you know it."

Finn nodded and Blaine decided it was time to intervene. "Here, on this chorus. Just swoop with the mic stand-"

"BROOM." Kurt interrupted with a laugh.

"_Broom_. Swoop down with the _broom_," he shot Kurt a mock-angry glance before continuing, "but don't let go. Swing it back and forth delicately. Don't ever let it hit the floor."

Finn tried, but he ended up just falling. Kurt facepalmed delicately, pointedly looking over to Blaine.

"He's hopeless. I told you he can't dance." Kurt said, shaking his head.

Just then, Carole entered the room, looking for the source of the noise. At the sight of Kurt and Blaine laughing as Finn sat fuming on the ground, she laughed as well.

"Finn, you weren't really trying to do what Blaine was doing, were you?" She asked, shaking her head. "You're too tall for dancing. Even in place."

"I'm going to go call Rachel and see if she wants to go get ice cream." Finn said, rubbing his knees as he stood up.

"You boys have been going at this for hours, and Blaine you've had it down for the six runs." Carole said, turning off the CD player. "Take a break. There's lemonade in the fridge and ice cream in the freezer if you two want anything." Kurt thanked Carole, but instead of taking her up on her offer, the two just collapsed on the sofa.

Kurt could see that Blaine was thinking, and he turned to the other boy.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, his smile fading.

"Just wishing things could be like this at my house." He said solemnly. Kurt sighed, taking one of Blaine's hands.

"That bad being home?" He asked. Blaine had moved back home for the summer the day before. Blaine nodded.

"I wish I could bring you over. I wish they could be happy to meet you. I wish you could meet Jessie, she'd love you."

"Your little sister." Kurt said, and Blaine nodded.

"Well, maybe you should." Kurt said, quietly. Blaine shook his head.

"I want to. I really want to. But some of the things my dad has said…" Blaine shook his head as though clearing it. Kurt frowned.

"Well, then, maybe you shouldn't." Kurt said, giving Blaine's hand a squeeze. But you should probably head home, we've got a long trip to Chicago tomorrow."

"I'm really glad your dad is letting you daytrip up there with me. It'll make the trip a lot less lonely." Blaine said.

"Well, he knows I better get used to the roads if you get the position, because I'll have to come visit you pretty often." Kurt said with a little smile, trying to hide how much he didn't want Blaine to be living with his uncle in Chicago over the summer.

"True. Sucks there isn't anywhere closer." He said, knowing what Kurt was thinking and trying to hide those same emotions from himself. Slowly the two boys stood up, and Kurt walked Blaine to the door.

"Goodnight, Kurt. I'll be here to pick you up at eight in the morning, coffee in hand."

Kurt made a face at the early hour. "You better. Goodnight, Blaine." He said, and the two gently kissed goodnight before Blaine left and Kurt went down to his room, picking up some magazines off his dresser to go through until Blaine got home and texted him.

**Author's Note: Pretty short, I know. I'm framing up a few different plotlines. I've already written one future chapter already, and it was probably three times as long as this. But who's ready for a Kurt-Blaine daytrip to Chicago? I'm hoping to make it good, but I've never been before (I'd love to go), so you'll have to bear with me.**


	3. Chapter 3: Daytrippers

"Good morning, sunshine!" Blaine sung out when Kurt groggily answered the phone. Blaine chuckled. "You aren't still asleep, are you? I'm already at the Lima Bean."

"I'm up and ready. My dad just left for work. Hurry up and come get me before I fall asleep again." Kurt muttered, leaning back in his chair. On the other end, Blaine laughed.

"You know, this is the same time you would have had to have been at school." Blaine teased, moving up in line. Who knew so many people got coffee this early in the morning?

"My body already knows it's summer." Kurt whined. He heard Blaine order their coffee before continuing their conversation.

"Well tell your body to wake up before I have to." He said, his voice low. Kurt's eyes shot open, and Kurt assumed it was audible because Blaine was laughing.

"Oh, good, you're breathing again. I was worried there for a second." Blaine said, teasing Kurt more.

"Blaine!" Kurt whined, pouting.

"I have to hang up on you so I can carry the coffee without dying, Dear. See you in a few minutes." Blaine said, and before Kurt could answer, the call ended.

Kurt groaned. He was definitely awake now, thanks to Blaine. What on earth was he teasing about, anyway? It's not like they had even done anything besides kissing… the one time they had been making out and Kurt felt Blaine through his pants he had jumped so suddenly that Blaine had laughed at him for a good five minutes and the make-out session had ended.

So what, exactly, was Blaine playing at?

Before Kurt could think himself into a frenzy, the doorbell rang. Kurt stopped by the mirror to make sure he was immaculate before grabbing his bag and opening the door. Blaine was standing in front of him, holding his mocha out like flowers.

Kurt smiled, taking the coffee and bending over to kiss Blaine lightly on the lips. Blaine looked up at Kurt, a smile on his face before he scanned his eyes down his boyfriend's body and took in his outfit.

"You know it's four and a half hours to Chicago, right? Blaine asked, smirking at the tight green leather jacket and tight black jeans Kurt was wearing. Kurt could wear as tight of clothes as he pleased (Blaine rather enjoyed it), but Blaine knew the jacket wouldn't be comfortable in the car for the long trip.

"The jacket comes off." Kurt said, rolling his eyes and taking off the leather jacket to reveal a black tank top, the material of which shimmered in the sunlight. Blaine rolled his lips together, taken back by Kurt's display of arms and lack of layers.

"Okay then." Blaine said, rather unimpressively. Something clicked in Kurt's head as he saw Blaine licking his lips and looking down nervously. _Is he... no, surely not…_ Kurt thought, the breath taken out of him as he looked Blaine over. His suit didn't leave any indication of his current state of affairs, but when Blaine's eyes sheepishly caught his with a small smile, Kurt's heart lurched. _Okay, maybe…?_

"You look good." Blaine murmured, wishing there was a lapel or something to play with as he told Kurt. Instead he settled for leaning up against the wall beside the house, his arms feeling strange stuck to his sides. Kurt picked up where Blaine left off, placing his coffee-free hand on Blaine's lapel and tugging it needlessly in place.

"So do you." He said quietly, flicking his eyes up into Blaine's. He felt Blaine inhale deeply and sucked on his lip, a little nervous at the response he was getting from Blaine. "I could say the same thing about _your _jacket, though…" he teased, running his hand down Blaine's chest open handed, his fingertips trailing. Kurt wasn't sure what he was doing, but by the way Blaine was looking up at him, he knew he was doing something right.

"Like yours," Blaine said, his voice not wholly there, "it comes off." He said, raising an eyebrow as he demonstrated, taking the grey suit off and revealing the paper thin white shirt beneath it. Kurt's mouth fell open a little bit as he realized he could see the hues from Blaine's tanned skin through the shirt.

"Right." Kurt said sharply, trying not to bite his own lips. The two made eye contact and suddenly Kurt was stepping down from the doorway, coffee stretched away to protect the two from any spilling as they kissed, pressing up against each other. Kurt gasped, and that was all it took Blaine to throw his tongue into Kurt's mouth, causing Kurt to gasp more as he tried his hardest not to spill the coffee all over the both of them. It became harder as Blaine continued to kiss him, until suddenly they were jarred apart by the sound of the alarm on Kurt's phone.

"Shit." He said, and Blaine chuckled, rubbing his palm into his browbone, tilting his head skyward. Kurt shut his alarm off hastily, blushing.

"I had my dad wake me up this morning, so I forgot about the alarm." He explained quickly.

"Well, it means we've been standing out here for too long, so we should probably get on our way." Blaine said, smiling at Kurt and reaching out his hand. Kurt quickly shut the door before taking Blaine's hand, finally taking a drink of his mocha. It was a little colder than he would have liked, but Kurt considered it a pretty fair trade-off.

"I see you left your hair down. Does that mean we can ride with the top down?" Blaine asked as they walked to the BMW convertible. Kurt pretended to sigh exasperatedly, but secretly this was exactly why he hadn't styled his hair up.

"If you insist." He said with a grin, and Blaine beamed, opening the door for Kurt.

* * *

><p>"As long as I'm your hooker!" Kurt sang out, bopping back and forth in his seat and singing along to Lady Gaga on Blaine's CD player. It was the second hour of their journey, and boredom had taken over the two boys, causing them to switch from the radio to Lady Gaga. On this particular song Kurt was singing the high parts, and Blaine was responding with the low bits. He had to admit, he rather liked growling "back up and turn around" at Kurt. He just couldn't look his boyfriend in the eye immediately after doing so, because he was a little afraid the serious undertones might show through.<p>

They sang through the rest of the song, Blaine glancing over once in a while with a smile on his face to see Kurt having so much fun. Even if it was an attractive dead president Kurt was commanding to touch him, Blaine couldn't help but find Kurt's performance arousing. Well, maybe not physically arousing, but that was only because Blaine bit the inside of his cheek hard whenever he became too enthused.

"So, what do you want to do for your birthday?" Blaine asked as the song changed. He knew he was risking anger by interrupting "Judas", but he really needed to clear his head with conversation.

Kurt's wide smile was almost too much to bear, Blaine thought, feeling his own lips spread across his face on their own volition. He chuckled.

"You didn't expect me to not know your birthday is next week, did you?" He asked with a smirk. He had Kurt's birthday marked with a big exclamation mark on both his wall calendar and in his daybook.

Kurt blushed. Blaine's birthday had been at the end of March, right after they had started dating. They had celebrated by Kurt treating him to Breadstix and a movie, and Kurt had given Blaine a few really nice decorated picture frames with photos from Dalton. He did have all of those extra sequins after decorating Pavarotti's casket, after all.

Kurt had a feeling Blaine would want to do something nicer for Kurt's birthday, especially with all the "I love you" and what-not.

"I… you didn't have to remember." Kurt said, blushing. Blaine laughed.

"Of course I did."

"Let me guess, you have an idea." Kurt said, avoiding the question.

"I was thinking of taking you out to Della Sorella for dinner and then going to the botanical gardens." Blaine said, smiling confidently.

"Della Sorella." Kurt repeated, his mouth falling open.

"Yes."

"The Italian place."

"Hence the Italian name." Blaine said, barely holding in the triumphant smile creeping across his face at how excited Kurt sounded.

"You… want to take me there for my birthday?" Kurt said, and Blaine looked over and saw Kurt's wild smile.

"If you want to go." Blaine said, almost laughing.

"Of course I do!" Kurt exclaimed, and Blaine couldn't help but laugh.

"Hand." He said, reaching out. Kurt placed his hand in Blaine's and Blaine raised it to his mouth, taking his eyes off the road long enough to look in Kurt's eyes as he kissed the back of Kurt's hand.

"Your birthday is on Thursday, so I made the reservation for Friday." Blaine said, returning his eyes to the road but keeping Kurt's hand in his.

"You already made the reservation?" Kurt said, raising his eyebrow with a smile.

"Last week. Do you know hard it is to get into that place?" Blaine smirked.

Kurt leaned over and kissed Blaine on the cheek even though the older boy was driving. Blaine smiled, pulling Kurt's hand to his lips again.

* * *

><p>"You don't really even need a pep talk, do you?" Kurt said, sitting in the foyer of the building Blaine's audition was in. Blaine stood in front of him, smirking and shaking his head.<p>

"I kind of have it in the bag." He said, none too modestly. Kurt rolled his eyes, but knew this was Blaine's game plan and didn't call him out on it.

"Do you get a practice room?" Kurt asked, looking around the austere foyer. He never would have supposed a theme park could be so stingy.

"Nope; in and out. That's why I took over the CD player for the last hour, it was a warm-up." Blaine said, bouncing on his toes.

"Well your warm-up nearly cost us our lives when you almost cut in front of that semi." Kurt said, scrunching his face at Blaine. Blaine looked sheepish.

"If I said I couldn't give Adele any less than my all, would you cut me some slack?" He said, scrunching his face as well. It _had_ been a pretty big mistake.

"I'll forgive you when you buy me lunch." Kurt said, twisting his scrunched-up face into a scrunched-up smile.

"Pizza?" Blaine asked, smiling.

"You know it."

"ANDERSON!" A voice called. Blaine bounced on his feet a few more times and looked down at Kurt, his eyes lit up.

"That'd be me!" He said quietly, snapping his fingers. Kurt rolled his eyes and stood up, taking Blaine by the shoulders.

"Go knock 'em dead." He said, kissing his boyfriend good luck and handing him the CD.

* * *

><p>"You're joking." Kurt gasped half an hour later, sitting in a small pizza restaurant overlooking the river. Blaine merely shook his head, a grimace on his face, his arms crossed over the table.<p>

"They said it would offend the children."

"Have they _seen_ what's on television these days?" Kurt asked, disgusted.

"I don't know, Kurt. I don't know. I didn't realize Six Flags was living in the forties." Blaine said, leaning back in his seat and grinding his jaw.

Their pizza slices arrived at the table, and Kurt watched as Blaine grumpily shoveled pepperoni pizza into his mouth.

"Too suggestive. That's what they said, Kurt. They said my dancing was too suggestive and then they didn't even let me read." Blaine said after swallowing. Kurt nibbled at his pizza, sympathy coursing through him. Kurt reached over and caught Blaine's clean hand in his, giving it a squeeze.

"You're lucky you marched right out of there… if you had told me in that building I would have gone in and given them a piece of my mind." Kurt said with a little smile. Blaine tried to return it.

"I can only imagine." He said, settling his face into a little smile. He turned and looked out over the water, his eyes scanning. Finally he settled on one of the bridges in view. "Let's take a walk after we're done eating, now that we don't have to be back for the posting in an hour." Blaine said, gently rubbing his thumb through Kurt's palm.

"Okay." Kurt said, picking up his pizza in his other hand and moving to take his first bite.

* * *

><p>"I guess they weren't kidding when they decided to call this the windy city!" Kurt said, pulling his jacket closer to him with his free hand as he and Blaine walked over the bridge, once again hand-in-hand.<p>

"Well if you'd zip this…" Blaine laughed, pulling Kurt closer to him and zipping his boyfriend's jacket, leaving it to rest on his chest. Kurt's heart pounded at the gesture. "Better?"

"No." Kurt complained, though smiling and looking at Blaine with lovestruck eyes. "What about you?"

"_I've got your love to keep me warm." _Blaine sang cheesily, grinning and tugging at the shoulder of Kurt's jacket. Kurt rolled his eyes and placed his forehead against Blaine's.

"Not too worried about being too suggestive now, are you?" Kurt asked, cocking his head sideways with a grin. He instantly regretted it, because Blaine turned away to brace his hands against the bridge, sighing.

"I just don't get it." He said, looking almost longingly at the city, but then back at Kurt.

"It's ridiculous, Blaine. It wasn't _that_ suggestive, at least not when you were practicing it at my house." Kurt said, cupping the back of Blaine's head in his hand and running a thumb across his temple, loving the way Blaine's curls bounced in the wind.

"It wasn't suggestive _at all_, was it?" Blaine exclaimed, gripping the side of the bridge. When Kurt didn't answer he turned back to his boyfriend, who was twisting his foot on the ground and looking up through his eyelashes at Blaine.

"Well, it was to _me_…" he said, blushing, and Blaine's heart leapt. He _wanted_ Kurt right then, his hair blowing in the wind and his cheeks pink from what he was admitting.

"Come here, you." Blaine practically growled, pulling Kurt to him and kissing him gently. Kurt couldn't help but enjoy the wind a bit more than he had previously.


	4. Chapter 4: Goodnight, Boys

"Kurt, honey? We're almost back in Lima." Blaine said, reaching over and nudging his boyfriend lightly.

Kurt groggily moaned and stretched in his seat, turning over from where he had been perched against the side of the car so he could look at Blaine.

"What time is it?" He asked, blinking blearily and rubbing his eyes a bit. Blaine smiled and looked at the clock.

"Eleven thirty-three." He said, glancing back over at Kurt. The younger boy's hair was a little messed up from sleeping over the past hour, and Blaine thought it was adorable. He had spent the time Kurt was asleep listening to Adele again (this time without singing) and glancing over at his sleeping boyfriend every now and then. Kurt was so reserved that the only time he had slept around Blaine was when Blaine was too drunk to pay attention and had fallen asleep first, ignoring the lovely boy sleeping beside him.

Idiot.

Blaine's heart had begun to race every time he looked over at Kurt sleeping so peacefully. It was that old protective feeling, he knew, but stronger. Even when Kurt cried, Blaine knew Kurt was the stronger of the two: the fighter. But when he saw Kurt completely vulnerable and asleep, every scowl and smile wiped from his face, Blaine knew he'd do anything for him.

"It's so late." Kurt murmured with a little yawn, bringing Blaine's attention back to the more-alert Kurt next to him. Blaine stifled a returning yawn, a little worried about the implications.

"Yeah. Maybe we shouldn't have spent so much time at Millennium Park." Blaine said, thinking of the nearly three hours they spent taking pictures and walking around before getting dinner and leaving the city.

"But it was fun! I had fun today. Thanks for bringing me along." Kurt said smiling over at Blaine.

"Of course I brought you along. What's a city without someone to share it with?" Blaine answered. "Thanks for coming with me. Sorry it turned out to be a bust."

"I'm not complaining. We got to see more of the city, and this way you're only just over an hour away from me instead of over four." Kurt answered brightly.

"You're selfish." Blaine said, laughing. "But I have to admit, I've been thinking the same thing."

"Silver lining!" Kurt answered. "Put the top back down, I bet the night air feels fabulous."

"Selfish _and_ demanding." Blaine teased, but took Kurt's suggestion. He was right, the warm night air felt wonderful. He looked over and saw Kurt's bare arms stretching skyward, his hair ripping in the wind.

Soon they were turning off the highway and into Lima. The boys settled down as the wind from driving did, but they were more awake than they had been previously. After a few turns, Blaine found himself parking the car in front of the Hummel residence.

"Walk you to the door?" He asked, putting the top of the car up. He knew he wouldn't ride with the top down without Kurt in the car.

"Come in for a minute. You've been driving for a long time." Kurt said, picking up his jacket from the backseat.

"Well, if you insist." Blaine said with a smile, and the two got out of the car and stretched. The two started to the door holding hands, and Kurt opened it and walked inside.

"I'm home! Blaine's with me!" He called out. Blaine shut the door behind them and started after Kurt in the direction of the living room. Burt was wake, watching a baseball game half-heartedly.

"Hey, boys. How was Chicago?" Mr. Hummel asked, gesturing for the two to sit down. Blaine gave a short answer and Kurt expanded, talking for five minutes straight while his dad laughed at bits of his explanation.

"Sounds like you two had a good time. Sorry about your audition, Blaine." Burt said kindly.

"It's alright, Mr. Hummel. I wasn't exactly looking forward to spending the summer dressed as Marvin the Martian, anyway." Blaine said, and before he could stop himself he yawned. Burt looked up at the clock and frowned.

"It's almost midnight. Were you planning on driving back to Marion tonight?" He asked, concerned.

"That was the plan, yes." Blaine answered a little ashamedly.

"How much do your parents want you home? You've done a lot of driving today and I don't want you out on the road if you're tired."

"I don't think they'd mind, Mr. Hummel. Honestly they're probably already asleep." Blaine said. He glanced over and saw Kurt holding his breath.

"Give them a call. I'll talk to them if you need me to. Kurt, go find some stuff for Blaine to sleep in and make up the guest bedroom, will you?" He said, addressing his son. Kurt stood up a little too quickly and went to his bedroom.

Blaine pulled out his phone and called his house. His mother picked up, and he quickly explained that he was in Lima and Kurt's father was offering him to stay the night so he didn't have to drive back to Marion. She okayed it almost immediately, and Blaine thanked her and hung up the phone.

Burt studied Blaine before speaking.

"Your parents don't know about you and Kurt, do they?" He asked, his voice softer than he usually used. Blaine shook his head.

"I'm not… hiding anything from them, Sir… it's just they're not exactly…" he began, but Burt held up his hand.

"You're a good kid, Blaine. I can tell that. I've been through this with Kurt, and it went well for us, but I know what the alternative could have been. Do they know you're gay?" He asked, his voice low so Kurt wouldn't overhear the conversation. Blaine shrugged.

"I've told them. They sort of refuse to believe it."

"Well, anytime in the future you want me to talk to them, I will. Parent to parent."

"Thanks, Mr. Hummel."

"Clothes!" Kurt said brightly, bursting out of the basement. "Come on, Blaine, the guest bedroom is on this floor." He said, crooking his neck to a small hallway. Blaine stood up, giving Burt a small smile.

"You two don't stay up too late." He said, making eye contact with each of them. "I'm going to head up to bed, goodnight."

"Goodnight!" Both boys responded, watching him ascend the staircase. Kurt took Blaine's hand and dragged him back to the guest bedroom.

Blaine had never seen a non-floral guest bedroom, but here it was. Looking at the liberal use of navy accented with dark green, Blaine had a feeling Kurt had designed the room. He plopped down on the bed as Kurt sat the little pile of clothes on the dresser.

"So how long do we have before your dad comes bursting through that door?" Blaine asked, cocking an eyebrow. Kurt smiled, walking up to the edge of the bed and grasping one of the posts, looking down at Blaine.

"In fifteen minutes I'll leave. He'd get suspicious if it were any shorter. And then fifteen minutes after that he'll be asleep and I'll come back." Kurt said, bouncing up on his toes and looking rather proud of himself.

Blaine's mouth fell open. He didn't even bother to correct it as he looked up at Kurt, his eyes wide and a smile spreading across his face.

"You will, will you?" Blaine asked, biting his lip. Kurt nodded, climbing onto the bed. "And what, may I ask, are you coming back for?"

Kurt paused, his eyes wide. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist and laughed kindly.

"We'll have fifteen minutes to think about that after I leave." Kurt answered, drawing Blaine's breath out of him. "But for now, I think we have fifteen minutes we can spend not thinking." Kurt said before planting his lips firmly on Blaine's.

As impulsive as Blaine had always been, in this kiss he finally understood the meaning of "slow and steady wins the race." Kurt's lips might be moving against his the slowest they had since Blaine first kissed him, but there was so much in this kiss that Blaine was practically paralyzed. Kurt was right, he wasn't thinking.

They kissed for longer than Blaine could keep track, lips and tongues and bodies pressed together. Just whenever Blaine thought they couldn't get any closer, the two found a new way to press against each other even more, including falling over so that Kurt was laying on top of Blaine. Blaine ran a finger down Kurt's spine, and the younger boy moaned and moved against Blaine, pressing them together through their pants. Kurt inhaled with a hiss and Blaine moaned at the unexpected feeling.

He opened his eyes, expecting Kurt to be self conscious or even done for the night. But when he opened his eyes he saw Kurt's dark with lust in front of his, he smiled. Kurt's lips twisted into a smile, though he was biting his lip mischievously. Blaine pulled Kurt's face back down for another kiss, laughing a little against Kurt's lips.

"So is that what you're coming back for?" Blaine asked, running a hand through Kurt's hair. He realized this was the first time he had been able to do that, and ended up rubbing his thumb over Kurt's temple just to keep his hand in his boyfriend's soft, smooth hair. "I wouldn't object." He whispered the last part.

Kurt seemed to swell against him, both in his chest and elsewhere. Blaine was reminded of the smile on Kurt's face after he asked him to dance at prom. He kissed Kurt again, and both boys pressed against each other, mouths catching moans, but then Kurt opened an eye and looked up.

"Hold that thought." He said ruefully. He got off of Blaine and stood up from the bed. Blaine protested, catching one of Kurt's hands in his, but Kurt merely shook his head.

"Can't you just pretend to go downstairs?" Blaine asked, peeking one eye open. He was so turned on by Kurt at the moment that he couldn't stand it.

"Patience is a virtue." Kurt replied coyly, but ruined the effect by bending down over the bed and pressing his lips softly against Blaine's before standing up and making his way to the door.

"Fuck virtue." Blaine moaned, pulling a throw pillow over his face and causing Kurt to giggle at the implication of his words.

"_Goodnight, Blaine!_" he said just a bit louder than he usually would, and a little too brightly. He winked at Blaine and smiled, biting his lip again. Blaine returned his smile, watching as Kurt shut his lights off and headed out the door, clicking it closed behind him.

Once on the other side of the door, Kurt took a second to lean against the wall, letting his breath steady. He had really just… yes, he had. And not only had he turned Blaine on, he had _acted on it_. Not only had he acted on it… Blaine was _begging_ him to come back.

Kurt made sure to allow his footsteps downstairs to fall just a little more audibly than they usually did on his way down to his room. Once there he headed straight for the vanity mirror, sitting down and placing his hands on his face, making sure it was still the same one. He couldn't help but beam back at his own reflection, one hand over his mouth, hiding his embarrassment at how excited he was even from himself. Kurt thought back to comparing himself to a baby penguin in a fit of frustration and embarrassment. Well, as long as he didn't growl at Blaine or anything, he might actually get by with this. Hell, he was getting by with this.

There was the smile again.

Kurt didn't know where all of this was coming from… but something just felt so right about all of it, as though maybe he really were ready for this.

But if he were ready for such an adult concept, would he really be hugging himself and kicking his legs back and forth frantically under his vanity seat?

Kurt timed himself by his skin routine, making sure not to rush it partly to calm his nerves and partly to time it correctly with how long it would take his dad to fall asleep. It was unusual to have to make himself take time, and he even caught a stray thought about it being pointless.

What was definitely pointed was himself, Kurt realized with a smirk. Even as he sat there putting lotion on his face, the thought of Blaine upstairs waiting for him kept him more than alert.

Eventually when he finished up, Kurt reached down and unlaced his shoes and pulled them and his socks off. Looking back at his reflection, he also slid his jacket off of his shoulders, remembering the way Blaine looked at him that morning.

Last he grabbed a little bottle of one of his less-expensive lotions and tucked it into his hand, which was shaking a little bit. He blushed, knowing he used it for himself, and that it was more than likely it'd be used on someone else tonight. Well, that was his goal at least. With one last gleeful glance in the mirror, Kurt headed upstairs quietly.

Once on the ground floor, he crept to the side of the staircase to the top floor, and paused to listen. He held his breath, and then he heard it: the sound of his dad snoring. Grinning, he made his way through the dark back to the guestroom.

Blaine lay in the dark, the throw pillow still over his head. In fact, he hadn't moved since Kurt had left except to squirm in place. He was still as aroused as he had been when Kurt had left, since he couldn't see anything by the faint green glow of the alarm clock by the bed except the outline of the pillow, so his imagination had filled in the lack of sensory input with sensory memory… of Kurt.

When was he getting back? Blaine couldn't see his watch in the dark and hadn't checked it when Kurt left… but surely it had been fifteen minutes by now? Surely Kurt wouldn't be too bashful to come back? Or maybe he had guilted himself about disobeying his father. Or maybe… the door was opening?

Blaine held his breath as he heard the door open and shut, a few pattering footsteps, and suddenly Kurt was above him, his pale skin throwing off the green light.

"I had just thought you weren't coming back for me." Blaine murmured, stroking the pads of his fingers down one of Kurt's bare arms.

"Oh, ye of little faith." Kurt whispered with a smirk before kissing Blaine.

Blaine decided quickly that conversation was superfluous to this situation. He kissed Kurt back, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend, loving the lack of his usual layers. Blaine placed a hand against Kurt's abs, causing him to flex suddenly and nibble Blaine's bottom lip.

"You're overdressed." Kurt murmured, pushing at the inside of Blaine's jacket in attempt to push it off of him. Blaine helped him along, kicking his shoes and socks as well.

Kurt ran a hand down Blaine's chest, feeling his muscles under the thin fabric. Blaine removed his lips from Kurt's, moving them down to his neck.

"Don't you dare; it's summer now!" Kurt hissed, pushing Blaine's head away. Blaine smirked, looking up at Kurt before trailing down to his pectoral instead, stretching down the fabric of Kurt's tank top.

"I'll give you your neck, but this you'll just have to deal with." He teased before biting down lightly. Kurt whimpered, pushing himself into Blaine. Blaine smiled against Kurt's smooth skin, but continued to bite and suck. Kurt tugged on the back of Blaine's hair, feeling himself become even more aroused.

Blaine finished with his pectoral with a wet lick, and Kurt fidgeted before pulling off his shirt altogether. Blaine tried to hide his shock at Kurt's audacity, but he was pretty sure he was leering at his boyfriend's skin in the diluted green light. Before he knew what he was doing, he was touching Kurt's chest, running a hand around Kurt's delicately defined muscles. Kurt gasped, his eyes drawing closed, and Blaine felt himself react from watching Kurt come undone leaning up against the pillows. Blaine leaned down and kissed him, pressing their bodies against each other again. Kurt's hands reached up between them and began unfastening Blaine's buttons, sliding the shirt from Blaine's shoulders.

Blaine was… hairy. Kurt's body hair was fair and fine, but Blaine's was rich and course and manly, though thankfully short and sparse. Kurt ran a hand across it, amazed at the way it bounced back the same way as Blaine's curls. Slowly Blaine leaned down, pressing their bare chests together in a feeling like lightning for both of them, amazed by the warmth and softness of their bodies together. Their lips met again, a hot, heavy kiss that left them both panting. Kurt leaned forward, sitting them both up again as they kissed.

The kiss ended and Kurt opened his eyes, and when he saw the look in Blaine's eyes when the older boy did the same, he took a deep breath and moved his hand and put it on the bulge in Blaine's pants.

Blaine inhaled sharply, his eyes drifting shut before opening again to study Kurt's.

"Do you want me to…?" Kurt asked quietly, drifting off and blushing a little bit, his eyes casting off to the side and an embarrassed smile pulling his lips together.

"Only if you want to…" Blaine whispered, looking at Kurt intently, not wanting to betray how much he wanted exactly that.

"I do." Kurt whispered, giving Blaine a small smile before kissing him again, soft at first but growing in intensity as he slowly pushed Blaine backward so that he was on his back and Kurt was above him. Kurt kissed him a bit more, rubbing their lower halves against each other before reaching down and flipping open the fastening on Blaine's suit pants and sliding the zipper down over the bulge underneath.

It was all too much for Blaine to take in as Kurt took over the situation, and when Kurt reached into Blaine's underwear and pulled him out, Blaine came undone, bucking up into Kurt's hand. Kurt nearly dropped him in surprise, but kept hold of him. Kurt's hand drifted away and Blaine opened his eyes to see his boyfriend putting lotion on his hand before returning it to Blaine, who moaned at the cold, wet feeling of the lotion against his skin.

Kurt worked his hand up and down Blaine slowly at first, but as Blaine fidgeted under him he picked up the pace. Blaine tried to keep as composed as possible, but every time he chanced a look at his boyfriend he lost it all over again. There he was, his sweet and adorable boyfriend, with Blaine's dick in his hand.

No wonder it took Blaine so long to lose it completely. He came in Kurt's hand gasping out the other boy's name, his arms flopping down from Kurt's sides. Kurt crawled over and got some tissues out of the box on the bedside table and wiped Blaine off gently, kissing him with a feather lightness that ended when Blaine caught his lips hard.

"Let me sit up." Blaine whispered, and as soon as Blaine did, he was reaching for the bottle of lotion and coating his fingers with it. "Your turn." He said simply, smiling at Kurt with the warmest eyes. Kurt leaned back against the pillows and watched as Blaine unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, pulling them and his underwear down lightly. Gently Blaine wrapped the lotion-covered hand around Kurt and slid from the bottom all the way up the shaft, watching Kurt's face as he did so.

Blaine almost went hard again at the feeling of how hard Kurt was already when Blaine began touching him, and when he added in the sounds Kurt was making, he might as well be coming all over again. But that's exactly what Blaine had done- come in Kurt's hand. It seemed so surreal to be doing this all with Kurt; someone so special to him he could wrap in his arms and just hold for all eternity and feel no regrets. But this… seeing Kurt whimper and moan under his hand, was wonderful.

"Blaine," Kurt whimpered, placing his hands on Blaine's shoulders, squirming. Blaine leaned up and kissed him, still stroking.

"Shh. I've got you." He whispered, running his thumb around the head of Kurt's penis and he came, shaking. Blaine kissed him again before pulling a few more tissues from the box and wiping Kurt clean.

Blaine settled down next to Kurt and pulled him to him, stroking his bare back softly. Kurt whimpered and rolled over, his head on Blaine's shoulder and his breath tickling Blaine softly as Kurt rolled his head over and pressed a kiss against Blaine's skin.

"So what's the plan now?" Blaine asked, tracing his hand down Kurt's side and grinning as Kurt shivered against him.

"Mmm, sweats and clean underwear on dresser." He mumbled. Blaine laughed.

"And you?" He asked, still running a finger along Kurt's back.

"There's two pairs of both sweats and underwear. The underwear are new, too, so don't worry. There's only one shirt, and you're not putting it on until I leave after my alarm clock goes off in the morning 30 minutes before my dad wakes up for work." Kurt said rather exasperatedly. Blaine laughed a little too loudly, earning him a shove in the stomach.

"You mean to tell me you had all of this planned out all night?" Blaine asked, turning over and brushing a few strands of hair off of Kurt's forehead.

"Not planned out, per se…" Kurt said, scrunching his eyes up. "I'd say it was my time as a cub scout coming back to me and telling me to be prepared."

"You were a cub scout?" Blaine asked, momentarily distracted.

"Barely. I quit really fast because I the outside was icky." Kurt replied, stretching.

"Right. Well, you're devious." Blaine said, rolling in the other direction twice and ultimately rolling off the bed, standing up. His pants slid down off his legs without him intending them to, and he merely kicked them off, heading for the dresser. Kurt rolled his eyes and groaned, stretching before standing up as well. His pants were a little more stubborn, but he took, them off, too.

Kurt was sure he was going to wake up soon. It had to just be some wet dream… because in what world would Kurt and Blaine have just done that- especially with Kurt's dad in the house? But they had, he realized as he walked up to the dresser. Kurt Hummel had performed a sex act, and had one performed on him! That didn't sound right. What had just happened with Blaine was so natural, so wonderful… it couldn't really be classified as sex, could it?

Or was this the point about sex that he had been missing all along?

Blaine had split the pile of clothes into three, with the t-shirt sitting by itself in one pile and the sweats and underwear coupled together in a pile for each boy. Blaine slid off his underwear and took the black boxer briefs from the dresser, sliding them on. Kurt swallowed hard, amazed at the momentary sight of Blaine completely naked in front of him. This was real, he told himself.

Kurt took a deep breath and took his own underwear off, reaching for the pair of clean boxer briefs. Blaine turned toward him, and Kurt blushed faintly. Blaine smiled warmly, leaning against the dresser as Kurt slid the underwear on smoothly.

"You're so lovely, Kurt." Blaine said, reaching out and running a hand over Kurt's cheekbone. "I'm really lucky."

"So am I." Kurt said, closing the space between them and kissing Blaine softly.

The two boys put the pairs of sweatpants on, and Kurt set about picking up his clothes and folding them, placing them in a drawer.

"What are you doing?" Blaine asked.

"This way my dad won't see them if he walks in. Which he won't. But just in case, you know? I want to be able to say that we're just cuddling.

"Without shirts." Blaine added, smirking.

"Well yeah, but I'd already be in trouble for being in here in the first place. I'm just trying to take away the obvious clues." Kurt said.

"Like the lotion bottle?"

"Shit, you're right." Kurt said, walking over and getting it while Blaine laughed. Kurt shot him a glare. "Fold your clothes up or something so they're not all over the floor."

"Yes, Sir." Blaine said, raising his eyebrows but smiling.

The two ended their clean-up and promptly flopped back into bed in each other's arms.

"What are you thinking about?" Blaine asked quietly, running his fingers across Kurt's hairline, watching the wispy hairs fall backward from his face. Kurt closed his eyes peacefully.

"How much my life has changed this year." Kurt murmured, smiling. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Blaine murmured back. "Goodnight, Kurt." He said, kissing the top of Kurt's head.

"Goodnight, Blaine." Kurt said, reaching his lips out to kiss Blaine's shoulder again, but falling asleep before he was sure whether or not he accomplished his goal.

**Author's Note: Holy long chapter! Hope the length makes up for how long it took to write it! I never expected it to be this long… but Blaine's interior monologue kind of took parts over from me. I did an apple F, and it turns out I said "Blaine" in the story 151 times. That's a lot of Blaine! I actually cut this off sooner than I intended to (I was going to go into the morning), but I decided that over 4,000 words were too many already.**

**I'm a little distraught because I found a link to where someone had combined every Kurt & Blaine moment all season into one "movie" and had a dozen different download links for different formats and such… but none of them would open on my computer :( I was hoping I'd be able to do research for this when I want to reference stuff… but I guess I'm still winging it!**

**Also, Marion is a town I found on Google maps between Lima and Westerville. I'm not familiar with Ohio, so I apologize if it's not the sort of area Blaine would come from. I imagine Blaine wasn't originally from Westerville, and I wanted him closer to Kurt than he had been at Dalton, so I chose Marion.**

**Thanks so much for the sweet reviews, they really brighten my day! I hope you guys like this one, too! (That is, if you can make your way through all of it.)**


	5. Chapter 5: A Morning Together

"Nggghhhhhhhhh." Kurt nearly yelled, reaching for the phone and remembering that he put it halfway across the room. He whimpered at the thought of having to leave the warm bed, but when he tried, he found Blaine's arms locked around him. "Darling, the alarm."

"No leaving. You have thirty minutes." Blaine protested, curling his head into Kurt's back between his shoulder blades. Kurt loved the feeling of Blaine's soft hair against his back, and his strong arms around him, but he knew the alarm was more pressing.

And there was always a snooze button…

"I'll come back, I promise, I just have to get it before it gets too loud and wakes my dad up." Kurt whispered. Blaine let go with a sigh, and grabbed the phone and hit snooze, taking it back to the bed with him.

"I absolutely have to leave when it goes off again." Kurt said, crawling back in and getting into Blaine's arms again. Blaine made a contented noise in his throat and pulled Kurt a little closer; his eyes fluttering open as Kurt's face drew closer.

"Good morning, Love." Blaine murmured, reaching a hand up and laying it on Kurt's face, stroking his forehead with his thumb.

"Good morning." Kurt whispered, nuzzling closer.

The two lay face to face in bed for the next fifteen minutes until the alarm went off again. Kurt sighed and Blaine's face grew sad.

"I'll see you in a few hours." Kurt said, placing a quick, closed-mouth kiss on Blaine's lips, self-conscious of his morning breath. He sat up, clicking the alarm on his phone off.

"I can't wait until we're older, Kurt." Blaine groaned, rolling onto his back. Kurt cocked an eyebrow at him, delicately pushing curls back from Blaine's forehead.

"Huh?"

"When we're older and in college and have our own places." Blaine elaborated. "We'd be able to do this all the time, and then we could just stay in bed." He said, smiling. Kurt blushed, remembering what they had done. But there was something else nagging at Kurt: the future. Would Blaine go to New York, too? When he thought of it, he realized he didn't know what Blaine wanted to do with his life. He had mentioned once that this would be one of his last summers performing, so Kurt knew that wasn't it. Kurt gulped at the thought of Blaine going anywhere else.

"Dazing out already? Go on, get out of here." Blaine said, reaching a hand over to Kurt's. Kurt looked down at Blaine, the yellow sunrise finding ways through the curtains to find a landing spot on Blaine's face, illuminating those white teeth and those caramel colored eyes. The future would have to wait.

"Alright. I'll come wake you up in a few hours for breakfast." Kurt said, bending over and kissing Blaine on the left side of his forehead, just above his brow bone. Kurt walked over and took his clothes and lotion bottle from the drawer and left the room.

Once in his room, Kurt stashed his clothes in the hamper and put his lotion on his vanity before grabbing the hoodie Blaine had given him to sleep in on the New York trip. Kurt slipped into it, smiling as the smell of Blaine returned to him. He sighed, realizing it really had nothing on actually sleeping next to Blaine. Sighing, Kurt slipped into his cold bed.

Within twenty minutes, he heard his father's heavy footsteps on the stairs and tucked his head further into the pillow and pretended to be asleep. Burt opened the door and looked in before walking out and closing it again. Kurt smiled and allowed himself to drowse for a few hours until his regular alarm went off at eight-thirty.

The thought of more Blaine woke Kurt up pretty quickly. He stripped and headed into the shower, amazed to look at himself. The tissue may have cleaned him some, but it hadn't been perfect. _That's Blaine's doing._ He thought, trying not to get hard. He also had to take care with the large hickey on his chest Blaine had left him, the only visible evidence of what they had done.

Kurt stepped out, toweling himself off and brushing his teeth. He looked himself in the mirror as he did so, taking in everything from his general appearance to the mark on his chest. He thought about the chubby, shorter kid who stood here just over a year ago. That kid would never have recognized his future self, he realized. Tall, lean, confident, loved, sexually active.

Kurt went back into his rooms and put on a pair of distressed jeans that were less tight than he usually wore (though that wasn't saying much, he thought with a smirk) and a tight red t-shirt. He wasn't very happy that he had to put the first shirt he picked up back down; the neck on it was too low and would have shown the little He styled his hair up quickly, but still perfectly. Smiling, he turned back to the red Dalton hoodie he had just put back down on the bed and slid it back on before heading upstairs.

Carole was in the kitchen when Kurt got upstairs, already fixing some eggs and bacon. Kurt popped into the kitchen, smiling at his stepmother.

"Good morning!" He said brightly, taking a bowl and beginning to pull flour, sugar and baking soda for pancakes.

"Good morning." Carole replied, amused as Kurt started humming as he reached for measures and bowls. "You seem to be in a good mood."

Kurt forced himself to not hesitate while pulling a bowl from the island, biting down a blush. "I slept well." He said, starting to scoop in dry ingredients. "Salt?"

Carole handed it to him, and he added it as well. "Your dad told me to tell you that your cousin Annie is going to be staying here this summer." She said. Kurt looked up sharply, excited. "Her parents are going to Arizona because her mom's dad isn't in good health."

"Will she be here in time for my birthday?" Kurt asked, bouncing a bit on his toes and grabbing milk from the refrigerator. This was turning out to be a _fabulous_ week.

"She'll get here Tuesday." Carole said, smiling at how excited Kurt looked. "Am I going to like her?"

"Most likely, since she's one of my favorite people in the world." Kurt said. "She's not really domestic, though, so I'm still your main hand. Eggs?" Carole handed Kurt the eggs and he began to crack them in, followed by milk.

"She's your age, right?" Carole asked, taking the milk and putting it back in the refrigerator, handing him the butter.

"Yeah, just a few months older. She turned seventeen in January. When she lived in Lima I called her my big sister." Kurt said with a smile, pulling a spoon from the drawer and starting to stir.

"That's fun. Burt tells me Blaine's in the guest room." Carole said, smiling. Kurt had a feeling she was trying to make a statement between linking "fun" and "Blaine", but carefully assessing her told Kurt that she didn't know anything.

"Yeah, Dad told him to stay here instead of driving back to Marion, since it was almost midnight when we got back last night." He said. Carole nodded.

"That's probably a good idea. How late did you two stay up?"

"Not long after Dad went to bed." Kurt said, focusing on breaking up a little clump.

"Wow. I'm pretty sure at your age if my boyfriend were just a staircase away I would have gone crazy." She said, shaking her head. Kurt blushed and continued stirring, though he was pretty sure all the clumps where gone. "Go wake him up. The bacon and eggs are almost done, and I'll start these." She said. Kurt smiled and fled.

Once he got to the guest bedroom, Kurt took a second to check his hair with his hands before looking at the door. Did he even need to knock at this point? He decided to quickly rap on the door before opening it slightly, peeping inside.

Blaine was in bed, still asleep. Kurt leaned into the doorframe, smiling has he took in the sight of his boyfriend. He was a little scruffy from not shaving, and he looked so peaceful lying there, his mouth slightly open. Slowly he stopped his staring and walked over to the bed, putting a hand on Blaine's bare shoulder.

"Hey, wake up." Kurt whispered, shaking lightly. Blaine's eyes squinted open and a content smile spread across his face.

"Mmmm" he murmured, pulling on Kurt's arm, rolling onto his back. Kurt laughed and shook his head, removing his hand from Blaine and shaking his head.

"Come on, breakfast's almost ready. Go take a shower and then come down. That door leads to a bathroom, and everything you need will be in there."

"Not you." Blaine muttered, reaching for Kurt again. Kurt rolled his eyes and backed up, giggling.

"You'll have me as soon as you get to breakfast."

"I want you now. Forever." Blaine said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Kurt softened, smiling. "At least give me a kiss?" He said, sitting up.

"Not until your teeth are brushed." Kurt said, bending over and kissing Blaine on the forehead before walking out of the room, pausing in the doorway to glance back at Blaine, who was beginning to get out of bed, pouting.

Kurt returned to the kitchen and took over pancake-flipping duty for the next ten minutes. Carole, having put the bacon and eggs on plates, went to wake up Finn. As she left, Kurt heard her say, "Good morning, Blaine! Sleep well?" and an answering "Yes, Mrs. Hummel, thank you for letting me stay overnight." Kurt kept his back to the kitchen doorway as his stepmother assured Blaine it was nothing, smiling as he heard Blaine's footsteps behind him. Blaine came closer and closer until he had caught Kurt around the waist, resting himself against Kurt's back.

"Good morning. Do I get my kiss yet?" He asked, dropping a kiss on Kurt's cheek. His voice was heavy and low, and Kurt felt his breathing speed up. He turned his face toward Blaine, biting the inside of his lip as he made eye contact with the older boy.

"Good morning." He whispered. Blaine grabbed him by the hips and turned him before kissing him, his tongue pressing for Kurt to let it in. Kurt broke the kiss, shaking his head.

"Pancakes. Carole." He said, turning around and checking that the pancake wasn't ready to be flipped yet. Blaine rolled his eyes, going over to Kurt's side and pulling him into another kiss, this time gentler.

"Fine. But let's go to the park this morning." Blaine said. Kurt nodded.

"Fill your plate." He said, just as Finn lumbered into the kitchen, his hair uncombed and his pajamas wrinkled.

"Oh, hey, Blaine. Didn't know you were here, dude." He said, pulling the orange juice from the refrigerator. "Guess that explains why there's breakfast."

"Hi, Finn. Kurt's dad let me stay the night so I didn't have to drive back to Marion after midnight." He said, turning to Kurt's stepbrother as the athlete pulled three glasses from the cabinet.

"Gotcha. How was Chicago? You get your part?" He asked, pouring. Blaine shook his head.

"Blaine's audition was stopped because he was 'too suggestive,'" Kurt said, pulling the last pancake from the griddle and air quoting with his other hand. Blaine made a grumpy face, but Finn laughed.

"Sucks, dude. Hey, did you catch the ball game the other night? Fourteen innings, man…" He said, and the three set about collecting food onto their plates while Blaine and Finn talked comfortably about sports. Carole reentered the kitchen, getting food of her own and sitting down at the table with them.

The conversation flowed easily over breakfast, and soon enough Carole was collecting their plates and asking them what they were going to do. Finn told her Puck was coming over to play X-Box, and Kurt told her that he and Blaine were going to the park.

"Alright! I'm going to go visit Bettie Ridget, down the street, she just had surgery and needs some company. Call me if any of you need anything." She said, taking the plates to the sink. Kurt grabbed his keys off the table in the entryway and pulled Blaine by the hand outside to the Escalade.

Once the two reached the park, Kurt headed for the lake. Parking by the side of the road, he took off the hoodie and stepped outside, the warm morning air settling over him. Blaine walked around to him, stretching as he went. Once he saw Kurt's v-neck shirt, he smiled.

"Had to go for the high-necked one today, didn't you?" He said with a grin, putting a hand on Kurt's chest above where the big purple mark was on Kurt's chest. Kurt bit his lip, grinning but not answering. Blaine drew closer, pulling back the fabric from Kurt's chest and chuckling at the big purple mark, running a finger over it. Kurt took a sharp breath, pushing Blaine's arm away.

"That hurts." Kurt grumbled. Blaine chuckled a little more, glancing up at Kurt's face before leaning over and licking a line over it. Kurt jumped, shoving him up against the car and reclosing the space between them, kissing Blaine.

"I'm going to get you for that." Kurt growled, smashing his lips against Blaine's again. Blaine blinked before leaning into the kiss, amazed at Kurt's sudden use of strength. Kurt grinded himself into Blaine's lower half, smiling mischievously at Blaine's hardness and how the older boy whimpered and fidgeted against Kurt. Kurt smirked, letting go of Blaine and turning around, walking toward a bench.

"Kurt!" Kurt turned around to see Blaine still standing against the Escalade, his hands pressing against the black metal to hold him up and his chest rising and falling, his eyes nearly black. Kurt's eyes drifted closed as he hit the unlock button twice.

"Very back seat." He said, opening his eyes and biting his lip. Blaine nodded, opening the door and climbing back. Kurt got in, shutting the door and reaching to the front into the glove compartment, where he grabbed his suntan lotion and a pack of tissues before heading back to the backseat.

"You're lucky I love you." Kurt whispered, grinning as he pulled down the sweatpants Blaine was wearing and took him out of his pants again. Blaine whimpered. "All I have is suntan lotion." Kurt said, opening it and grimacing at the smell. Blaine laughed, gasping as Kurt smoothed the warm lotion over him.

"You don't have to…" Blaine said, but Kurt rolled his eyes.

"You should've seen yourself. I couldn't just leave you like that, someone might have walked by and seen the tent in your pants and reported us for an illegal campsite."

"Can't help if my boyfriend has gone from calling himself a baby penguin to pushing me up against cars." Blaine bit out as Kurt ran his fingers around Blaine. Kurt smiled, but he looked at Blaine's hard on a little apprehensively. Strangely, it was easier to know what to do with it when he couldn't see it. Slowly, Kurt stroked it.

He gained pace after a little bit, and found little things that Blaine liked. It took him by surprise when Blaine began to rock into his hand, and Kurt kept his eyes on Blaine's face, loving the way Blaine's eyes were closed and little moans kept coming from his throat. Kurt grasped a little tighter and moved a little faster and watched, amazed, as Blaine let out a little yell as he came. Kurt took a tissue out and started daubing at Blaine, who was resting his head back against the window.

"Kiss me." Blaine whined as Kurt tucked him back into his pants. Kurt happily climbed up and pressed his lips against Blaine's in a peck, smiling and allowing himself to settle down on Blaine's chest.

"Sorry it's so cramped in here." Kurt complained, pushing Blaine's curls back from the sweat on his head.

"Hey, better than in my car." He said, smiling up at Kurt. "Want me to get you?" He asked, running a hand along Kurt's hip.

"Nope, I want you to owe me. That's your punishment." Kurt said with a grin, sitting up. Blaine scowled. "Come on, I want to take a walk around the lake before it gets too hot."

"You're too hot." Blaine muttered, earning a laughing look from Kurt. The younger boy started to climb out of the Escalade first, and Blaine lightly squeezed Kurt's ass when it came into view.

"Excuse me?" Kurt said, trying to mask his laughter as anger. Blaine merely grinned.

"What? I like it." Blaine replied cheekily. Kurt made a show of rolling his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile as he climbed out. Blaine joined him, bouncing as he hit the ground. Kurt closed the door and pulled the keys back out of his pocket, locking the doors again. Blaine took his hand, rubbing his thumb in Kurt's palm as they started to walk around the lake.

The two spoke every once in a while, but left most of their journey up to comfortable silence. Around the time they reached the other side of the lake, Kurt realized Blaine had become more pensive.

"What are you thinking about?" Kurt asked, reaching up and stroking Blaine's cheek.

"That I wish I didn't have to go home today." Blaine said, kicking a rock into the water, watching the ripples run out into the lake. "I feel like I leave so much behind when I go back to Marion."

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked, genuinely confused.

"You. Myself. Everything. I have to go to the country club tomorrow. I mean, Wes might be there, but if he's not I'm stuck with all these snobs I can't stand. It's back to hairgel. I can't talk about you. Marion sucks."

Kurt sighed. He understood why Blaine couldn't talk about him. He didn't mind, because he knew how much Blaine wanted to. Blaine had sung to him in front of both of their schools and danced with him in front of hundreds of judging eyes at prom. Blaine wasn't ashamed of Kurt in the slightest.

Blaine's was the one spreading the shame, and it was on Blaine.

"You know Dalton's my escape. My summers are horrible. They're even worse now that I actually have something to hide." Blaine said, looking down. Kurt put an arm around Blaine's waist, resting his head on Blaine's shoulder.

"I wish I could drive up there sometimes instead of you having to drive down here all the time, but you'll just have to come back down on Saturday and we'll think of something to do."

"Deal." Blaine said, pressing a kiss to Kurt's head, but still not smiling. How could he possibly spend the summer hiding the happiest part of his life?

**Author's Note: Once again, I have to say that I really appreciate the reviews! They're so well thought out, they make me smile so much! Also, Wutif, expect me to take you up on that offer! Glad you're all (or at least those of you reviewing) enjoying the story. I'm really excited to introduce Annie in a couple chapters. I think she's going to be a fun touch to the story.**


	6. Chapter 6: Marion Bluffs Country Club

_**I look in the mirror and all I see is tool. –Blaine.**_ Kurt read the text message a second time, giggling. It was nine in the morning, and Kurt was at his desk putting together some lyrics for the big number of his Pippa Middleton extravaganza. The corkboard behind the desk was entirely filled with pinned-up costume design sketches, all twenty-two meant for Pippa to wear, and the real driving force behind his musical.

_**It can't be that bad. –Kurt**__. _He shot off the reply, looking back down at his rhyming dictionary. _Divine: Align, brine, malign, mountain pine. _While those weren't the only entries, they were the ones that stood out to Kurt the most. This probably why he had played more of a stubborn editor role when the members of New Directions wrote their nationals songs. Kurt's phone beeped again.

_**Head to toe Ralph Lauren. Head being a visor. And that's over enough hair gel to make you dump water over my head. –Blaine.**_Kurt sighed. He knew Blaine wasn't looking forward to going to the country club his parents belonged to, and he knew that any insecurity about his appearance would only make the day worse.

_**Then lose the visor. It's not like you've never worn a polo before, don't make this into something it isn't. Hair gel is ok, no rich boys looking at my bf's hair :) –Kurt. **_Kurt looked back down at his incomplete verse. Maybe it was time to design another dress for Pippa.

Kurt's phone beeped again, and this time it was a picture message. Blaine was scrunching up his face, and his hair was plastered to his head under a blue visor. He was wearing a yellow polo that Kurt couldn't help but think complemented Blaine's skin tone. But it was the other figure in the picture that caught his eye. A little girl with long, curly black hair sat on Blaine's lap. She had the same skin tone as Blaine, and the same hazel eyes and plump lips. She, too, was making a face at the camera. _**We're really excited about this. –Blaine.**_

_**Oh my God, the famous Jessie! She looks adorable. You look like a Republican. –Kurt.**_

Kurt couldn't help but smile. He had seen pictures of Jessie before in Blaine's room at Dalton and on his phone. He spoke about his nine-year-old little sister as though she were a princess, and Kurt knew that in Blaine's eyes she was.

_**She says thank you. I say fuck you. In the nicest way. –Blaine.**_

_**:( You're mean. I'm just making an observation. –Kurt.**_

_**Well, maybe looking like one could make my dad proud. –Blaine.**_

Kurt sighed again after reading the last message. Clearly Blaine's reception at home hadn't been warm. Well, from his father, at least. Jessie seemed to be enjoying having her big brother home. Kurt decided to attempt a distraction.

_**Just show him your report card then. You're totally going to be valedictorian next year. Don't even pretend otherwise. –Kurt.**_

_**I told you, David is going to beat me out. Ugh. We're getting in the car. I can feel my self worth eroding already. –Blaine.**_

"Blaine, who are you texting?" Blaine looked up to see his mother already in the passenger seat of his father's car, her sunglasses tilted off to look at him. Blushing, he put his phone in his pocket.

"My friend Kurt." He said, climbing into the car. Jessie slid in on the other side. His father opened how own door and got into the car as well. _Friend_. What an understatement. Even when he had been Blaine's "friend" he had been his _best_ friend. Calling Kurt his friend felt like slighting him.

"That a Dalton boy?" he asked, starting the car.

"He was for a while. He transferred before the end of the school year." Blaine said, trying to keep his voice level.

"Where's he from? Maybe we know his parents." Isabel said, flipping her long black hair over her shoulder and sliding her sunglasses back up, looking straight ahead.

"You wouldn't. He's from Lima."

"We know people from Lima. What's his last name?" Brian asked. Blaine took a deep breath, pulling his phone back out of his pocket as the car slid out of the driveway.

"Hummel."

"Hummel. Related to the artist Hummel?" His father asked, puzzled. Blaine fought to hide a smile. Kurt _looked_ like a Hummel painting: round, pale cheeks and clean lines on his face, but Blaine doubted any relation.

"I don't think so." Blaine said.

"Well what does his father do, Blaine? You're not helping." His mother said sharply.

"He owns a car shop." Blaine said quietly, hating this. He saw frown lines cross his mother's face.

"A car shop? Does his mother work, then?" He could hear the scorn in her voice.

"I'm not sure what his stepmother does. His mom isn't alive." Blaine said quietly.

"Well how could they afford Dalton, then?" Brian asked, not hiding the contempt in his voice. Blaine clenched his fist, willing his voice to remain calm.

"It was a temporary situation until some things cooled off at his old school." Blaine said. He looked around, though there was nothing to remark on. He glanced at Jessie, hoping she would change the topic.

"Mommy, can Allie Perkins spend the night tomorrow?" Jessie said, smiling at Blaine to show that she got the hint. Blaine's made a mental note to buy Jessie an ice cream at the country club.

"Jessie, I've told you, we're going out of town this weekend." Isabel said exasperatedly.

"Blaine isn't!" Jessie said, a big smile on her face. Blaine mentally struck ice cream from the agenda.

"Your brother doesn't want to watch you and your friend, Jessie. I'm sure he would like to take a girl out." Blaine made a face at Jessie and she giggled.

"I don't mind watching them. I don't have any other plans." He said. Maybe if Jessie had a friend over while his parents were away, so could he… it would be a Blaine-Jessie secret pact.

"Sure you don't want to make some, son?" His father said, and Blaine caught tones under his father's voice that he didn't want to.

"I'm a little worn out from the school year. It'd be nice to have a weekend with nothing to do." Blaine said, itching for the conversation in the car to end so he could check his phone.

"You've been stressing yourself out, Blaine. We'll stop by the bookstore on the way back. Staying home and reading will do you good." His mother said, glancing back and studying him for signs of weakness.

"Thanks, Mom." Blaine said. Hey, he was even getting new books out of the deal. This might not be half bad.

"Well, if your brother says he'll stay home I guess you can call Allie about it after we leave the club today." Brian said, and Blaine could hear that he wasn't happy about it.

"Thanks, Daddy!" Jessie said brightly. Jessie had long figured out that endearments kept her on her parents' good list, and Blaine envied her cuteness.

The car grew silent, and Blaine dared to take his phone out of his pocket, hoping it wouldn't bring up any more comments about Kurt and his family.

_**I'd say I'm counting down the hours until I see you, but you haven't told me when that'll be yet :( -Kurt.**_

_**What if I told you that you could stay the night tomorrow if I can get Jessie to make a secret pact? –Blaine.**_

_**WHAT? –Kurt.**_

_**Parents are going out of town. Secret pact likely. Catch: sitting Jessie & a friend. –Blaine.**_

_**My dad would never let me though :( -Kurt.**_

_**Lie? For me? –Blaine.**_

Blaine held his breath. There was a very real possibility that Kurt wouldn't do it.

_**I'll try. Let's take them out for ice cream, too. Which means you should take me out for ice cream, since it's my turn to buy dinner. –Kurt.**_

Blaine smiled. They were really going to try to pull this off.

_**Dinner at 7? We'll be able to eat without them, the nanny leaves at 8 on Saturday. –Blaine.**_

_**Like I said, counting the hours 3 –Kurt.**_

Blaine looked up right as they were pulling into the country club. Blaine groaned when he saw "_Marion Bluffs Country Club"_ in unchanged blue lettering on the side of the gate.

"Your mother and I are golfing with the Edentons and the Montgomerys. Blaine, I want you to track of Jessie. You don't have to be with her unless it's the pool, but know where she is." Brian said, wiping his sunglasses on his shoulder before sliding them back into his graying hair.

"Yes, Sir. The Montgomerys? Does that mean Wes is here?" Blaine addressed the second part to his mother, who was more likely to know.

"I think Alice said she was bringing him. Go look. We're taking lunch on the course, so we'll see you two at dinner." Isabel said before taking her husband's arm and starting away. Blaine couldn't help but wonder how his mother's tiny skirt would hold up in the wind.

"So, Jess, what's the plan?" He asked. He wondered if she'd make the secret pact on her own or if he should still buy her ice cream.

"I want to see who's here. Weren't you going to look for Wes?" She asked. Blaine nodded. The two began to walk, and Blaine nodded to the vaguely familiar faces. He noticed Jessie looking rather unimpressed with the crowd her age.

"What, too cool for the average elementary student?" He teased, looking down at her. Jessie frowned and looked up at him.

"Most of the kids here go to private school, so I don't know them." Blaine nodded. He remembered being one of the only public school kids in the country club, but his father wasn't set on sending them to religious schools. It was only when he was in high school, after being sent to the hospital for injuries after a dance, that his father had caved and said he could go to an all-boys school. It was actually Wes, a friend from the country club who lived in the same neighborhood as the Andersons, who recommended Dalton.

"So who here do you know?" He asked his sister. Her eyes were glancing from person to person quickly, as though she were looking for someone in particular.

"There's a boy named Andrew who goes to my school." Jessie said. Blaine grinned, crossing his arms.

"And do you _like_ this Andrew?" Blaine asked, cocking an eyebrow at Jessie. To his surprise, she shook her head.

"I think he's like you." She said. It took Blaine a second to figure out what she meant, since she was so open about it. In the country club, "gay" was a whispered word, an alluded to concept. Yet here was Jessie, saying it as though it were any other trait.

Yup, he was buying her ice cream.

"What makes you think that?" He said, sitting down on a bench and patting the place beside him. Jessie climbed onto the seat, her starched dress crinkling as she sat.

"He pulls Jacob Pullen's hair and looks at him a lot." Jessie said, playing with a strand of her hair.

"Well, don't talk about it." Blaine said, hating that he was putting a gag order on the issue he wished wouldn't be hushed up. "If Andrew turns out to be like me, he'll tell you."

"I won't Blaine. I don't tell anyone. I just told you because you understand." She said, looking up at him. Blaine couldn't help pulling her in for a tight hug. _Two scoops._

"Well, I hate to tell you, but it doesn't look like your friend Andrew is here unless he's outside. I'll text Wes, do you want to go swim?" Jessie nodded. She tried to talk Blaine into swimming with her, but he shook his head, laughing.

"I specifically didn't bring my swim trunks, Jessie. But I'll tell you what: Wes's sister is just a year younger than you. Maybe you two can swim together?" He said, almost a pleading look on his face. Jessie pouted.

"Lucy sucks." Blaine tried to hide his inclination to agree. While Wes was fun out of his Dalton uniform, Lucy Montgomery was you stereotypical private school bitch-in-training. What type of eight-year-old told other girls that their swim suits looked trashy?

"Hey, now! Language!" Blaine said, not refuting the point. Jessie made a face. "Maybe you can make a new friend? A private school boy to buy you pretty trinkets." Blaine said, grinning. Jessie rolled her eyes.

Jessie went into the locker room to change, and Blaine quickly shot off a text to Wes telling him that he was at the pool if Wes were at the MBCC. Sure enough, Wes came around the corner, sister in tow, just as Jessie was leaving the locker room.

Wes's sister Lucy had her hair cut in a bob and wore clothes much like the ones Jessie had just changed out of, but was laden with jewelry. She took in Jessie's swim cover, flip-flops, tied-back hair and big electric blue sunglasses one-by-one, making it clear she was judging the older girl.

"Hi, Lucy, want to go swimming?" Jessie asked, shooting her brother a harsh look.

"No, I don't want to get my hair wet. I might tan by the side of the pool." Lucy said, her voice dripping with airs. _You're eight_, Blaine couldn't help but think, _what the hell is wrong with you?_

"Well, Lucy, figure it out because Blaine and I are going to sit poolside while Jessie swims. Hello, Andersons." Wes said, smiling at his classmate and his classmate's younger sister.

"Hey, man. Come on, let's get a table." Blaine said, and the three walked out to the pool. Lucy frowned, but said she'd change and be right out.

"So, how's your summer starting? Haven't seen your car around Marion." Wes said, taking a seat at a table with an umbrella. Jessie took her swim cover and shoes off, revealing her little brown two-piece with pink polka dots before running for the pool.

"Jess, slow down! The pool isn't going away!" Blaine yelled after her before turning back to his friend. "I've been in Lima a lot. Chicago, too. That was a bust."

Wes smirked when Blaine told him he'd been in Lima, but his eyebrows fell when Blaine told him that Six Flags wasn't happening.

"What went wrong in Chicago?"

"They said I was 'too suggestive.'" Blaine said, trying to hide exactly how disgruntled he was from his friend. To his dismay, Wes grinned.

"Kurt in the room during the audition?"

"Shut up. No." Blaine said, embarrassed. He took out his phone. _**Talking about you. Love you. –Blaine.**_

Wes took in the sight of Blaine texting, his eyebrows rising and his grin spreading across his face.

"Who are you texting?" Wes said resting his hands on the table.

"Who do you think?" Blaine replied, blushing. Wes laughed, banging his hand on the table. Out of the corner of his eye, Blaine saw Lucy come out of the club house in the most scandalous bikini an eight-year-old could wear and lay out to tan.

"Dude, I don't know what's worse… being around you before you figured out you were in love with him or now that you have." Wes said, pretending to think.

"I'm sure it's worse now." Blaine said, rolling his eyes. His phone beeped.

_**Nice things, I'd hope. Told Dad I'm staying at Mercedes' tomorrow. Pick me up there? –Kurt.**_Blaine beamed.

_**Definitely. And I told Wes that you're a demanding diva who makes me feed him ice cream. –Blaine.**_

"You know, I'm not sure. This is bad, but at least I don't want to hide in a hole for you like when you spent months flirting with Kurt and then decided to ask his help with asking another guy out." Wes said. Blaine blushed scarlet, diverting himself by looking at his phone again.

_**Keep it up and I'll demand more than that. –Kurt.**_

_**And what do you think you're demanding, exactly? –Blaine.**_

"Speaking of Kurt, did he pick your outfit out? I like that blue and yellow together, I might have to copy it." Wes said, taking in Blaine's yellow polo and blue short pants and grimacing at his own khakis and black polo.

"He doesn't pick out my clothes, Wes." Blaine said, looking at his friend as though he were crazy. "God, we're not _that_ gay couple. He was there when I bought them, though. I think he suggested the color combination, but it's not like _that_."

"Got it. Well, I like it. I miss Kurt. It's a pity I didn't get to wear that tux he helped me pick out." Wes said, shrugging his shoulders. Blaine cringed, remembering how Wes's (now ex) girlfriend had broken up with him just before her prom.

Blaine's phone beeped again. _**We'll just have to figure that out, won't we? ;) –Kurt.**_

"Well, we'll have to hang out. I'm working on finding reasons to get Kurt to Marion." Blaine said with a small smile.

**Author's Note: Sorry this took so long! I've had some technical difficulties, but they're resolved for the time being. So… I teased you all with Annie… and gave you Jessie! They're my two big original characters for this story, I hope you like them! **


	7. Chapter 7: Sleepover

Blaine pulled up alongside Mercedes' house at a quarter to six on Saturday night, scouting for any signs of his boyfriend. Sure enough, Kurt bounced out of Mercedes' house. Literally. Blaine giggled as his boyfriend literally started skipping, his hat askew on his head and his bag tossing around behind him. Mercedes followed him out the door at a steady pace, stopping to lean against the wall outside her door.

"You treat him right, prep school boy!" Mercedes called. Blaine laughed, leaning over the steering wheel to see her as Kurt neared the car and obscured his view.

"Got it. I think he's safe." Blaine yelled back, still laughing. Kurt reached the door of the car and opened it, leaning in and kissing Blaine. Blaine turned into the kiss, and Kurt tried to lean in more, but ended up falling into Blaine's chest. Laughing, Blaine looked back up to where Mercedes was bending over laughing.

"That is, if he doesn't kill himself." Blaine yelled, letting out an oof as Kurt punched him in the stomach and then grabbed where he had just hit. "Or kill me." Blaine tried to yell, but he doubted the sound travelled as far as Mercedes. Kurt turned himself around so he was sitting properly in the car and shut the door.

"Bye Mercedes. Love you." Kurt yelled, leaning out the window and blowing Mercedes a kiss.

"Have fun you two." Mercedes yelled back, wiggling her fingers as Blaine took the car out of park and started to drive out of Lima toward Marion.

"Good evening, boyfriend." Blaine said, reaching over and adjusting Kurt's hat at a stop sign.

"Good evening, boyfriend." Kurt repeated, smiling contently. "I see you survived the country club."

"Oh, yes." Blaine said, chuckling. "It's quite survivable when you've built up a resistance to it. It's the newbies they eat alive. So, tell me, why do Mercedes' parents think your car is outside their house?" Blaine asked.

"I've been over there all day, and they think we're carpooling to Rachel's for a sleepover." Blaine's eyebrows shot up, and Kurt laughed. "Where she's actually going. I'm missing a sleepover for you." Kurt said, shooting Blaine a teasing look.

"I think our sleepover's going to be a lot more fun." Blaine murmured, taking Kurt's hand and running his thumb across Kurt's palm and shooting him a sultry look. A smile turned his lips as Kurt flushed and his face lifted at the prospect.

"Maybe instead of seducing me you should watch the road." Kurt said, nodding to where Blaine was about to run a stop sign. Blaine stopped the car short, jostling them both in their seats. He took the opportunity to lean over and kiss Kurt. Kurt kissed back, but when Blaine tried to slide his tongue into Kurt's mouth the younger boy shook his head and broke this kiss, grinning.

"We haven't even had dinner, Blaine Anderson." Kurt teased. Blaine pretended to frown and shot Kurt a look as he began to drive again.

"This is going to be the longest hour-long car ride ever, isn't it?" Blaine muttered, causing Kurt to giggle in triumph.

Almost exactly an hour later, the boys arrived in Marion. It took their extra fifteen minutes to figure out where to eat, since Blaine insisted on Kurt picking even though the younger boy had never been to Marion. Finally they settled on a pizza shop and split a pepperoni pizza.

The two had been eating for over half an hour when a thought occurred to Kurt. "Ooh! I haven't told you that my cousin Annie is coming to live with me this summer!" Kurt said suddenly, pulling his slice of pizza from his mouth so quickly that he was left breaking small strings of cheese.

"Oh?" Blaine asked, setting down his own slice. "How old is she?"

"Our age. She lives in southern Illinois. She grew up in Lima, though, so she knows a lot of people here. You're going to love her. She plays guitar." Kurt rushed off quickly. Blaine's ears perked up when Kurt said his cousin played guitar; Kurt knew Blaine did, too.

"She sing?"

"Yup. She's a mezzo soprano but she usually sings alto." Kurt said, taking another bite.

"Cool. Maybe you should get her to move back to Lima. Your New Directions are really unbalanced. Your only true altos are Lauren Zizes, who sucks, and Santana." Blaine mused. Kurt smiled at how technical his boyfriend was when it came to music parts.

"Well, I usually end up singing alto." Kurt said.

"Well that's just sin." Blaine said with a small smile, taking Kurt's hand under the table. "You're best at your highest or down in a tenor."

"I hate singing tenor!" Kurt protested.

"I don't see why, it's the sexiest thing I've ever heard." Blaine said. Kurt choked on his pizza.

"You think my tenor voice is… sexy?" Kurt asked, unsure if he had heard correctly.

"It's hot." Blaine confirmed. "Plus, your voice went pretty low the other night." He said, his voice hushed as he looked over at Kurt mischievously. The younger boy's eyes were wide and a light blush rose to his cheeks, but he was more turned on than embarrassed.

"Your voice went pretty low, too, actually. You could have passed for a bass." Kurt shot back, cocking his head flirtatiously. Blaine bit his lip. He thought of provoking Kurt further, but he had a feeling that this wasn't the mood they should be in to be around his little sister and her friend.

"Unfortunately, we're about to go pick up two nine-year-olds for ice cream." Blaine said, deciding to put a lid on the situation. Kurt pouted before giving his boyfriend a little grin.

"I'm really excited to finally meet Jessie." Kurt said. Blaine smiled, thrilled that his boyfriend was getting to meet a member of his family, and touched that he was excited to do so.

"Well, she's my girl." Blaine said, and Kurt could see the pride in his face. Blaine released Kurt's hand and reached into his pocket, drawing out his pocket watch.

"The nanny gets off in ten minutes. Just enough time to drive if we're done." He said, closing the watch.

"I'm done." Kurt said, taking a last sip of his soda. "I'm ready to meet this famous Jessica Anderson."

The two pulled up to a large white house in just under ten minutes. Looking around at all the large homes in the neighborhood, Kurt was tempted to call them mansions. The house was three stories tall with a balcony on the second floor held up by columns. By the windows over the door he could see a large chandelier hanging in the entryway. Suddenly, he was nervous.

"You're sure your parents are gone." He said, looking around for some sign of a garage. Blaine nodded. "They left right before I came to get you. That car," he nodded toward a little red car parked in the circle at the end of the drive, "belongs to the nanny, so she's still here." He parked the car in the circle as well and took Kurt's bag, leading him to the door.

"Jessie!" Blaine called as he opened the door. Kurt heard a small shriek and two girls ran into the foyer. He instantly recognized the one in the front as his boyfriend's little sister. She looked so much like him with her strong face, olive complexion and curly black hair, which in this case were bouncing around in pigtails. She was also much shorter than the other girl, who Blaine had informed him was also nine years old. This one had her blonde hair streaming to her waist, pale green eyes and skin almost as fair as Kurt's.

"Blaine! Is it time to go get ice cream yet?" Jessie said, smiling up at him. Blaine chuckled.

"Just about. Hi, Allie." He addressed the blonde girl. "Girls, this is my friend Kurt. He's going to be hanging out with us tonight if that's cool with you." He said, raising his eyes at Jessie. Kurt had a feeling it had already been decided that it was alright with Jessie.

"Hi, Kurt. I'm Jessie." The little girl said, turning to him. She had Blaine's smile, for sure.

"Hi, Jessie. It's nice to meet you, you're basically famous." He said, nodding his head toward her brother. Jessie beamed.

"So are you." She said, grinning. Kurt knew Blaine had introduced him as his friend, but from that look he wondered how much the younger Anderson sibling knew.

"Girls, I'm going to show Kurt up to my room and put his bag down, and then we'll go. Oh, hello, Therese." He said, looking up and addressing a woman who had just entered the foyer. She was smartly dressed and had an olive complexion and light brown hair.

"Hello, Blaine." She said with a thick accent.

"Kurt, Therese is Jessie's nanny. Therese, this is my friend Kurt." He said as an introduction. Kurt took a guess at the nanny's accent's origin.

"Bonjour." He said, nodding his head. The nanny beamed.

"Bonjour, Kurt." She returned with a matching nod. "Well, I'll be off. I won't be here until noon since it's the weekend." She said to Blaine.

"Right. Thank you very much, Therese." Blaine said, and the nanny left the house. "Come on, Kurt, my bedroom is up this way." Blaine said, gesturing to a large staircase.

Kurt ascended the staircase behind Blaine, listening to his explanations of what rooms were where in the house. It was shocking, really, to think of this as the place where Blaine grew up. Sure, he knew Blaine's family had money, but the older boy had always seemed so comfortable in the Hummel residence that he couldn't believe how different the two were.

Blaine's room was on the third floor. Blaine opened the door and stood aside for Kurt to enter, flipping on the light.

"So, here we have it: the place where Blaine Anderson mopes around wishing he were with you." Blaine said, smiling at Kurt.

"Wow." Kurt said, looking around. The room had the desolate look of a room that had stopped constant inhabitation years ago. The walls were green, which Kurt knew was Blaine's favorite color, but they had a faded look that told Kurt that they hadn't been painted in years. The green and yellow bedspread was especially old and faded looking, and distinctly childish. There wasn't anything on the walls, and most of the objects on Blaine's dresser were from childhood.

Only the desk looked as though it belonged to a seventeen-year-old. The framed pictures from Blaine's dorm room were sitting behind his laptop. Kurt's eyes scanned them, left to right: a fourteen-year-old Blaine with a six-year-old Jessie, both of their hair cut around their chins; Blaine's first time singing lead with the Warblers at the end of his freshman year; Blaine, Wes and David on top of a car at the end of their sophomore year; a picture of this year's Warblers, Kurt included, before their regionals performance. But one of the pictures wasn't there.

"Where'd we go?" Kurt asked, his voice soft as he tried to hide how disappointed he was. Blaine put an arm around him and kissed him on the cheek before walking to the bed. Kurt followed, watching Blaine put Kurt's bag on the bed and reach under his pillow, pulling out the last framed picture. It was a picture of Kurt and Blaine at Dalton the week they had started dating. It was a candid photo; the two were leaning up against each other on the couch with the sheet music for Candles in their hands, smiling at each other.

"I didn't want my parents to find it." Blaine confessed, looking sad. "But we're still here." Kurt forced a smile. It didn't matter, he told himself. Blaine _had_ to hide him. He didn't want to.

"Closer to you this way, anyway." Kurt said, covering up the cheesiness of his words by leaning in and kissing his boyfriend softly. Blaine pulled Kurt to him. He knew he should be feeling bad, but he couldn't help but realize that he was kissing Kurt in his own room. He had grown up thinking that he would never have a boyfriend in his room, but here Kurt was, with his lips against Blaine's. Even more, Kurt would be spending the night here.

"Mmmm. The nine-year-olds." Kurt protested, breaking the kiss and pulling back. Blaine sighed, resting his forehead on Kurt's.

"They are so getting an early bedtime." Blaine whispered with a grin.

The boys pulled into the ice cream shop next to the park with the girls in tow. Jessie and Allie literally ran for the door. Blaine chuckled, looking over at Kurt as they got out of the car.

"I think we'll eat it in the park, since it's still light." He said, looking over at the tall trees in the park. "Fresh air and all that."

"Right." Kurt said with a smirk. Fresh air, his ass. They followed the girls into the little ice cream shop. Kurt couldn't help but cough at the strong sticky, sweet smell of the ice cream flavors.

"Alright, two scoops for each of us." He announced. Kurt saw Jessie smirk and had a feeling this was her hush money. The girl knew how to bargain. "What flavors? Jess?"

"Superman." The little girl responded. Blaine rolled his eyes and addressed the person behind the counter.

"Two scoops of Superman. Allie?" He said, looking at the blonde girl.

"Mint chocolate chip." The little girl said.

"Two scoops of that." Blaine said, trying not to pull a face. Kurt knew he didn't like mint. "Kurt?" He said, cocking his head over at his boyfriend.

"Mocha." Kurt said with a little grin. Blaine laughed.

"Two scoops of mocha for the caffeine-aholic, and two scoops of chocolate for me." He said. The boy working behind the counter handed over the ice cream cones, which Blaine distributed to each, but not before taking a lick of Kurt's. He paid the girl at the register and gave her a tip and then shepherded the little girls toward the door.

"We're going to go hang out in the park for a while, girls. Just stick together, inside the park, and don't go too far. Oh, Jessie, make sure you dose for the ice cream." Blaine said. Jessie nodded and the two girls ran toward a playground.

"Dose?" Kurt asked, puzzled.

"Jessie has juvenile diabetes. She has an insulin pump attached to her." Blaine said simply, turning back to Kurt. He bent over and took a lick of Kurt's ice cream.

"What makes you think you can keep doing that?" Kurt said, laughing and pulling his ice cream aside. Blaine pouted and looked back up at Kurt.

"I think you have me addicted to mocha." He said, grinning. Kurt rolled his eyes and took a lick of his ice cream before holding it behind his back.

"Fine." He said with a smirk. Blaine turned back to make sure the girls were at the playground and not paying attention to them before he smiled and kissed Kurt. He slipped his tongue into Kurt's mouth and moaned, loving the feel of the cold ice cream in their hot mouths. Blaine broke the kiss with another grin before taking a lick of his own ice cream. Kurt started on his cone own again, but froze with his tongue in his mouth when Blaine took a long, twisting lick from his cone.

Blaine glanced over and saw Kurt's pink cheeks and wide eyes and nearly choked as he swallowed the ice cream. He looked down and glanced back up to see Kurt pointedly looking away. Blaine grinned and took an extra long lick, this time intentionally. Kurt was fidgeting and had gone so long without having any of his ice cream that a drop of it trickled down his hand.

"Shit." Kurt said, twisting his hand to see the melted ice cream and realizing that he hadn't taken any napkins from the counter in the little ice cream store. He quickly licked off all the other melted areas.

"Here," Blaine said, taking Kurt's hand in his free one and pulling it up to his face, licking the ice cream from Kurt's fingers. They were trembling, Blaine realized. He placed a kiss between Kurt's fingers and released his hand, stepping closer to his boyfriend.

"Let's… let's go up there." Kurt said, pointing to a small pavilion surrounded by bushes and trees at the top of a little hill looking down on the playground where the girls were.

"Okay." Blaine said, watching Kurt lick at his ice cream cone with little cat licks. Maybe this ice cream thing was a horrible idea. The two walked up the hill, and by the time they reached the gazebo Blaine had finished his cone completely, but Kurt had just reached the level where the cone was. Blaine watched, startled, as Kurt sucked the half-melted ice cream from within the cone, swallowed it, and through the cone in the trash.

"You don't eat the cone?" He asked, almost teasing, but a little too tense for a light tone. Kurt turned back to him, licking the last of the ice cream off his lips. He shook his head.

"Too soggy." Kurt said, scrunching up his face. Blaine's lips curled into a smile, and Kurt could tell he was refraining from commenting.

"Say it." Kurt said, stepping toward him.

"Want…something…harder?" Blaine said, trying to reign in his laughter until he finished the line. Kurt was laughing, too, but completely turned on. Blaine pulled Kurt toward him, kissing him and tasting the sweet sugary taste of his mouth. Kurt stepped in and pressed against him, and they both gasped at their shared hardness.

"Fuck, Kurt…" Blaine muttered, looping his fingers through the belt loops on Kurt's short pants.

"You really don't have much patience, do you?" Kurt bit out, his eyes still smashed shut.

"Not when it comes to you, no." Blaine whispered, pressing his smiling lips against Kurt's neck. "I think I have to this time, but God damn, I don't want to."

Blaine gave Kurt a peck before turning around and sitting down on a bench in the pavilion, bracing his hands against his knees and closing his eyes. Kurt backed against a wall, arching his neck.

"You've turned me into a cliché sexually frustrated teenager. I hope you're happy." Kurt said, hating how uncomfortable he was.

"One, you're anything but cliché. Two, I'll be happier when I turn you into a sexually satisfied teenager…"

"BLAINE! Not helping!" Kurt said, bending over. Blaine chuckled.

"Sorry. Ugh." The two sat in silence for a while until Blaine spoke. "How's your problem?"

"Better when you don't mention it." Kurt replied sassily. He wasn't enjoying blue balls.

"If it's still… problematic," Kurt rolled his eyes, "go sit in the car. I'm going to round the girls up."

"I'm good." Kurt said, walking to the middle of the pavilion and looking out over the playground. The two girls were swinging, and he watched as Jessie turned her swing upside-down in air. He could hear their high-pitched laughter from where he was standing.

"Okay." Blaine stood up, and Kurt could see that they were in the same state. Blaine walked up and gave Kurt a kiss on the neck.

"What did she do, a half flip?" He asked. Kurt nodded. "She calls them rocketships. I can't watch her do it; I'm always afraid she'll fall. She's fearless."

"Not far off from someone else I know." Kurt said with a smile.

"I've got nothing on Jess." Blaine said, taking Kurt's hand and leading him out of the pavilion. He didn't drop Kurt's hand until they were back in view of the girls.

"Okay, ladies. Time to head home." Blaine said, cocking his head toward the car. Allie slowly stopped swinging, but Jessie kept pumping her legs faster and faster. "Jess?"

"Just a second, Blaine." She said, pumping three more times and leaping through the air, landing in a crouched position. She hopped up and grinned at her brother.

"You're going to give me a heart attack. Now come on." He said, and they started walking to the car.

"Is Blaine always this big of a worry-wart?" Jessie asked Kurt, her arms folded. Kurt laughed.

"Nope. Your brother is going to break a bone falling off a sofa or clothing display at some point." Kurt said, and Jessie laughed.

"He still does that when he sings? He used to jump on the fireplace and pretend it was a stage. But then one time he hit his head on the mantle and Mother made him stop." Jessie said. Kurt laughed.

"Really?" Kurt asked, looking at Blaine and laughing. Blaine pouted.

"I had a goosegg for a week. Enough stories, missy." He said to his little sister.

"One time he tried to climb on a stack of logs at Grandmother's house and all the logs rolled out from under him and he ended up in a big mud puddle." Jessie said deviously. Kurt howled with laughter.

"How old were you?" Kurt asked. Blaine looked at Jessie, flabbergasted.

"Thirteen. And we were playing Annie Get Your Gun, so it made sense." Blaine explained.

"Except the part where you were Annie." Jessie said as they reached the car. Kurt was crying.

Blaine unlocked the car and they all got in, Kurt looking over at Blaine as he climbed in.

"So, tell me, what song were you singing?" Kurt said with a big smile. Blaine groaned.

"You Can't Get a Man With A Gun."

Kurt thought he might die from laughter. He kept asking Blaine questions (whether or not this production involved costumes, whether or not Blaine still knew all the words) all the way back to the Anderson house. Blaine had his jaw set, but Kurt could see the corners of his boyfriend's mouth quivering from trying to suppress laughter. Blaine pulled the car into the garage (which was a little building behind the house, Kurt discovered) right as Kurt asked Blaine if it would get too confusing for him to call his cousin Annie around Blaine. The girls climbed out of the car and headed toward the house, and as soon as the had left the garage Blaine pulled Kurt roughly by his shirt to the space between their seats and kissed him.

Startled, Kurt had to break the kiss for breath.

"What are you doing?" He said with a laugh as Blaine tried to pull him back again.

"Shutting you up." Blaine whispered with a smile before pulling Kurt back again. Kurt depended the kiss with a smile, but when he went to wrap his arms around Blaine his hand made contact with something that gave under his hand, and emitted a loud noise that startled Blaine so much that he bit Kurt's lip

"Oh my God!" Blaine said, drawing back in worry, looking from the steering wheel where Kurt had hit the car horn to his boyfriend's lip. Kurt was holding his lip looking at Blaine as though worried to make a fuss. "Is it bleeding?" Blaine asked frantically. Kurt took his hand from his lip experimentally, holding his fingers in front of his eyes.

"Doesn't look like it." He said. Blaine reached over and tenderly took Kurt's bottom lip in his fingers, turning on the light in the car and examining it.

"It's not bleeding. But does this hurt?" He said, pressing down a little. Kurt shook his head. Blaine pressed down a little harder and Kurt winced. "Come on, let's go get some ice on it. Besides, the girls will be wondering why we honked." He said.

Blaine kept an arm wrapped around Kurt on the way back to the house, murmuring how sorry he was and how stupid he was. Kurt told him it was okay several times, and didn't hesitate from reminding Blaine that it was his own fault for honking the horn. He couldn't get Blaine to stop looking worriedly at his lip, though.

Blaine led him to the kitchen, where he released him quickly upon seeing the two girls going through the pantry.

"And what, may I ask, are you two devils doing?" Blaine asked, getting a plastic bag from one of the cabinets.

"We want to watch a movie, so we need popcorn." Jessie said frankly. Allie smiled bashfully and looked at her toes. Blaine rolled his eyes and walked over to the freezer and started to shovel ice into the baggie.

"What are you girls going to watch?" Kurt asked, leaning over the counter toward them. Blaine noted that his words were a little thick from the bite.

"Thumbelina." Jessie said, peeking out of the pantry and grinning at Kurt.

"She's one of my favorites." Kurt said with a big smile. Blaine raised an eyebrow at him, but Kurt ignored it. "You know, if you have a headband and a lei, I can make your hair look like hers." Jessie's smile was _definitely _like Blaine's. "Bring me a hair tie, a brush, the headband and the lei and I'll do it." He said. Jessie set down whatever she was holding and made to run off. He looked at Allie. "Wait, Jessie. Allie gets her hair done, too! What do you think, Allie? Tinkerbell?" He asked the blonde.

"I love Tinkerbell!" The little girl said, her eyes lighting up.

"Make that two hair ties, Jessie." Kurt said, and the little black-haired girl ran off.

"Here, put this on your lip, master stylist." Blaine said, handing Kurt the home made ice pack and closing the freezer door. "Allie, here's the popcorn." He said, walking over and reaching for a box over her head. "Kurt can help you start a bag. I'm going to go set up the sleeping bags for you girls in the living room." Blaine said, handing Kurt the box of popcorn and leaving the kitchen.

Jessie made it back down just as Kurt got the bag in the microwave, handing Kurt the supplies and bouncing up and down.

"Okay." Kurt said, looking around. He decided on putting the girls on the island counter in the middle of the kitchen, and lifted them each up to where they were sitting with their legs swinging off the counter. "There we go. Who's first."

"Do Allie first!" Jessie said, hugging her friend. Kurt smiled.

"Okie doke." He said, starting to comb back the girl's blonde hair and twisting it into a topknot. After he finished he had Jessie direct him to where they kept the toaster so Allie could see herself.

"Oh my goodness, thank you!" Allie exclaimed, smiling brightly at Kurt.

"All in a day's work. Now for Miss Jessie." He said, placing the blue headband she had brought him into her hair and starting to comb her hair back around it. He fastened it in a ponytail at the top of her head and wrapped the lei around the ponytail. "There." He said decisively, picking the toaster back up.

Blaine walked in while Jessie was examining herself. Kurt was so distracted by the reappearance of his boyfriend that he didn't realize Jessie was frowning until she spoke.

"But it's still curly." She said sadly, looking up at Kurt with big brown eyes. "Thumbelina's hair is straight like my mommy's."

"Of course it's curly." Kurt said quickly. "If Thumbelina had a good stylist, her hair would be curly, too. It's way too thick and bushy, anyway. Your curls give it better shape." He said, patting the curls and making them bounce.

"I don't like my curls." Jessie muttered. Kurt looked at Blaine exasperatedly. _What is with you Andersons?_ He thought before turning back to Jessie.

"I think your curls are beautiful." He said, tipping her chin up with a finger.

"Really?" She asked, cocking her head.

"Promise." He said, extending a pinky finger to her. She smiled and linked it with hers as the buzzer on the microwave went off.

"Okay, fairy girls!" Blaine said, leaning against the refrigerator. "Now that Kurt's done your hair, it's time for you to get into your pajamas for the movie. Kurt and I will bring your food in; your sleeping bags are already set up in the living room." Kurt handed them down from the island counter and they started running for Jessie's room, but Blaine put an arm out in front of Jessie and stopped her.

"I think Kurt just gave you a very nice compliment. What do you say?" He said. Jessie blushed and ran back to Kurt, who crouched down to talk to her.

"Thank you, Kurt." Jessie said, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Kurt smiled and hugged her back.

"You're welcome; it's true." He said, and she hugged him again before running upstairs. Kurt stood up and looked at Blaine, who was walking toward him.

"You're amazing." He said, leaning over the counter toward Kurt. Kurt blushed and leaned toward him as well. "Really, truly amazing." Blaine said, taking one of his arms off the counter to cup the side of Kurt's face before kissing him. Kurt deepened the kiss, to Blaine's surprise.

"That doesn't hurt your lip?" Blaine asked, drawing back and placing the tips of his fingers on Kurt's lip. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"It's just bruised, Blaine. It doesn't really hurt." He said, missing the feel of Blaine's fingers on his lip as he withdrew them.

"I just feel really bad I bit you." Blaine said sheepishly. Kurt placed his forehead against Blaine's, giving him a look that clearly said that he knew.

"Come on, let's get them set up." He said, turning and pulling the popcorn from the microwave. Blaine fetched a bowl and a pair of glasses, filling the glasses with root beer while Kurt shook the popcorn bag into the bowl.

They brought the food into the living room and set it down between the sleeping bags and waited a few minutes before the two girls came bounding down the stairs from the third floor.

"Okay. If you're going to have any more soda, drink the root beer. Jessie, it's currently 9:30, which means it's your bedtime, so I win brother of the year. Don't worry about turning the movie off if you two fall asleep. If you need anything, yell, we'll be in my room. Oh," he said, turning to Jessie directly, "dose." He said firmly. She sighed and nodded. "Dose for half the bag, and make sure to eat it. Like we've said, it's better to go high than low at night, but we'd rather hit it dead on." He said. Jessie sighed, nodding.

"Okay, Blaine." She said, and went over to start the movie.

"Goodnight girls." Blaine said, heading for the stairs.

"Goodnight!" Allie chirped.

"Goodnight. And goodnight, Kurt!" Jessie said, more kindly toward the taller boy. Kurt smirked.

"Goodnight, Jessie. Goodnight, Allie." Kurt said. Allie chirped back at him, too.

Once they reached Blaine's bedroom on the third floor, Blaine snatched Kurt's straw fedora from his head and put it on. Kurt looked at him and wrinkled his nose.

"You look like a farmer." He said, shaking his head. Blaine sighed, taking the hat off and putting it on a bookshelf.

"What, I can't be Jason Mraz?" He asked, pouting. Kurt shook his head.

"Nope. Besides, I think you'd look better in something like a cowboy hat…" Kurt said, pretending to pull guns from the sides of his legs. Blaine tackled him. Kurt landed on the floor and laughed, but before he could protest Blaine began tickling him. Kurt squirmed, laughing.

"No more Annie Get Your Gun Jokes." Blaine said, sitting on Kurt's hips as he tickled him.

"Okay!" Kurt gasped, not able to catch Blaine's hands and make them stop.

"Promise!" Blaine said, tickling further down Kurt's abdomen.

"I promise!" Kurt pled, and Blaine stopped ticking and kissed him, pressing down on him as he did so.

Kurt moaned, not believing the feel of being pressed between Blaine and the hard, flat floor this way. Blaine pressed harder still, causing Kurt to harden underneath him. Blaine smiled and adjusted to where he was more laying on top of Kurt than sitting on him and pressed again, this time causing both of them to moan. Blaine slid a hand under Kurt's shirt, pulling it up as he held Kurt's waist. Blaine pressed against Kurt again, pushing him down. Kurt hissed as the carpet stung his exposed skin.

"What?" Blaine asked, opening his eyes and looking at Kurt, worried.

"Carpet stings." Kurt muttered sheepishly. Blaine laughed, standing up and pulling Kurt up by his hands.

"Sorry." Blaine said, scrunching up his face.

"I guess that's what the bed's for." Kurt said, stepping in and kissing Blaine softly. Blaine grinned against his lips, gripping Kurt's yellow polo in both of his hands this time and pulling it off. His fingers went to the fading purple mark on Kurt's chest, tapping lightly.

"Still hurt?" He murmured. Kurt shook his head. Blaine smiled. "I was a little worried when you said it did. The one you gave me on my neck before you left for New York didn't." He said, kissing Kurt's neck.

"Well, you bit." Kurt said, laughing and working his fingers into the holes between the buttons on Blaine's shirt and prying them apart. As soon as Blaine's shirt hung open, Kurt pushed it off of Blaine's shoulders and wrapped his arms around Blaine, once again appreciating the feel of their hard but soft bodies between them. There were other hard things between them as well, and Kurt smirked and grabbed the belt loops on Blaine's shorts.

Blaine cocked his head toward the bed and Kurt smiled before going over and sitting on the bed, scooting back toward the wall. Blaine climbed onto the bed, kneeling in front of Kurt before leaning in and kissing him, his head holding the back of Kurt's head as he tilted them down to where Kurt was once again on his back.

The feeling between Blaine and the bed was as hot as being on the floor, but much more sensual, Kurt realized. Blaine's bed, though apparently neglected, was soft. Blaine, as he dug his hips into Kurt's, was definitely hard. Kurt began to fidget.

"Blaine," he gasped. Blaine knowingly unbuttoned Kurt's shorts, moving out of the way to slide them down and out of the way. He kissed Kurt again as he reached into Kurt's boxer briefs and stroked him, causing Kurt to buck into Blaine's body.

"Kurt?" The dark haired boy asked, cupping Kurt's face in his free hand. Kurt opened his eyes, which were the darkest blue Blaine had had ever seen them.

"Yeah?" He asked, panting. Blaine felt stupid.

"Can I… use my mouth?" He asked, his face twisting in embarrassment. Kurt's mouth fell open and he nodded. "You sure?" Blaine asked, taking his hand off of Kurt's bulge and wrapping it around his hip. "If you'd rather I didn't, I'll just give you the best…"

"Blaine, it's okay." Kurt cut him off with a little smile. The older boy relaxed, smiling, and bent in and gave Kurt another kiss.

Slowly he knelt back, pulling down Kurt's underwear. He remembered the feel of how large Kurt was in his hand, but when faced with it in short distance… Blaine hastily unbuttoned and unzipped his own shorts, but left them on.

Carefully, Blaine took Kurt in his hand as he leaned down to him. Tentatively he stuck his tongue out and licked Kurt, making the younger boy whimper. Gaining confidence, he licked again, this time dragging the tip of his tongue along Kurt, making him moan.

"Should I be quiet?" He heard Kurt ask. Blaine laughed and shook his head.

"We're two floors up, and this house has pretty thick walls. Don't worry." He said, taking the tip of Kurt's penis in his mouth. Kurt gasped and bucked, causing Blaine to have to ride up with Kurt. As the younger boy settled back down, Blaine gently slid down as far as he felt safe doing without gagging, and then slid back up and did it again, quicker this time. Kurt's fingers twisted into Blaine's hair, causing Blaine to groan against Kurt, which caused Kurt to buck up again, crying out a little. He didn't buck far, and Blaine was relieved that he didn't gag. Gently he began sucking on Kurt, causing Kurt to squirm.

Blaine continued to experiment with Kurt until the younger boy grew sweaty and began to curse. He added his hand back into the mix, pumping Kurt with what his mouth couldn't reach.

"Blaine, Blaine… I'm…" Kurt muttered, pulling at Blaine's hair. Blaine took the hint and took his mouth off of Kurt and licked him instead while the younger boy continued to grip his hair until he came with a shudder. Kurt stopped licking but continued to pump Kurt with his hand as he leaned upward and kissed Kurt around the mouth until the boy was done, when he kissed Kurt full-on. The younger boy slid his arms over Blaine's shoulders, pulling him down and making Blaine release him from his hand.

"Oh my God, Blaine." Kurt said, releasing Blaine after attacking his tongue. He lay with his eyes closed as Blaine sat up to find tissues. He got off the bed to retrieve a box from his desk. While he was getting them, he studied where some of Kurt's release had fallen to his hand. Discretely, Blaine put his hand to his mouth. It didn't taste _bad_, just different. He took the tissues and wiped his hand off before getting Kurt cleaned up as well.

"Mmmmm…" Kurt moaned, stretching before opening his eyes and looking at Blaine. Something in Kurt's gaze made Blaine stop breathing and drop the tissue. "Now it's your turn."

"You don't have to." Blaine said, becoming aware of how uncomfortably hard he was. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I want to." He said, sitting up. Blaine's chest started to pound. "Unless you don't want me to." He said, cocking his head sideways.

"I want you to." He said, gulping. Kurt smirked, pushing down Blaine's pants, palming him through his underwear before sliding that away as well. Blaine sat down on the bed, his back against the pillows.

Kurt knelt in front of him, running a hand down Blaine's side before bending down and sliding the tip of Blaine's penis into his mouth. Blaine gasped, his hands twisting into the poofy comforter, his eyes taking in the completely sexy sight of Kurt's bare back bending into him. Kurt took a bit more of him, making Blaine arch his back. Kurt slid away and began licking Blaine's shaft with tiny, delicate strokes with the tip of his tongue, just as Blaine had seen him with the ice cream cone. He moaned and thrust upward, but Kurt continued to give him little licks.

"That kind of tickles." Blaine murmured. Kurt chuckled, the short puffs of breath from his nose tickling Blaine further.

"Payback." Kurt whispered, taking a great deal of Blaine in his mouth and sucking hard. Blaine bit back a yell. Kurt's entire mouth was warm and wet, and his tongue was dragging against him slowly while his lips closed around Blaine as Kurt bobbed his head gently. Blaine could feel all of this at once, driving him insane as he began to sweat.

Kurt moved his mouth to the base of Blaine's penis and nibbled lightly, making Blaine kick his feet a little bit. He felt Kurt's lips turn up against him, and suddenly Kurt's hand was on him, pumping him roughly. Kurt put his mouth on Blaine again and pumped just as hard. Blaine let out a low yell, his head rolling back. Kurt did it again and Blaine felt himself about to release.

"Kurt, baby, I'm going to come…" he whispered. Kurt took his mouth off of Blaine again, pumping him with his hand and giving one of his little cat-tongued licks to the head of Blaine's penis. Blaine came, moaning.

When he opened his eyes, Blaine saw Kurt smiling shyly in front of him. Sleepily, he reached up and pulled Kurt's face to his, kissing him delicately. They broke the kiss lightly, smiling at each other.

"I need to clean up. Blaine said. Kurt turned around out and picked up the box of tissues, pulling one out. Blaine tried to take him from him, but Kurt slapped his hand away.

"My job!" Kurt declared while Blaine laughed. Kurt finished his job and collapsed against Blaine, entranced by the feel of their naked bodies against each other.

"I love you." Kurt said softly, pressing his head against Blaine's chest.

"I love you too. And not just because that was incredible, either." Blaine said, kissing the top of Kurt's head.

"Does this feel like a scary movie to you?" Kurt asked after a few minutes. Blaine scrunched up his face, confused.

"What?"

"You're babysitting, have your boyfriend over, and we went off to play away from the kids in this big house." Kurt said simply. Blaine chuckled.

"Is this your way of telling me to get dressed and go check on the girls?" He asked, stroking the nape of Kurt's neck.

"Well…" Kurt said, grinning. Blaine laughed, playfully pushing Kurt off of him.

"Pick a movie while I'm downstairs and we'll watch it on my laptop." He said, pointing to a stack of movies beside his bookshelf.

Kurt picked his bag up from the far side of the bed as Blaine walked over to his dresser. Both put on their pajamas, and Blaine left the room while Kurt examined the stack of movies. After some deliberation, he pulled out _The Devil Wears Prada_ and set about hooking up the laptop and power on Blaine's bed.

The door swung open and Blaine stood in the doorway, still as could be.

"Kurt, they're gone." He said sharply. Kurt sat up quickly, looking at Blaine in fear.

"What?" He asked, his mouth falling open.

"No, dummy, they're fast asleep. What movie did you pick out?" He asked, laughing at how indignant Kurt looked. Kurt curtly answered him, and Blaine climbed into the bed under the covers and opened his arms.

"Forgive me and come cuddle with me?" Blaine said, pouting. Pretending to sigh exasperatedly, Kurt followed directions after pressing play on the laptop. Blaine wrapped his arms firmly around his boyfriend, kissing him behind his ear as the movie started.

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Again, sorry it took this long… but it's by far my longest chapter yet. It was also one of the most fun to write. Can't you all just imagine Jessie and Allie wondering what that loud thumping noise was when Blaine tackled Kurt? :) I've also been working on some of the future stuff for this story. I have two important future chapters almost completely done, and I've been plotting an earlier plot point. I'll give you a hint, and if you can figure out what it refers to (and want me to), I'll message you and tell you what they're doing (partially because I need to bounce the idea off of someone, lol). So the hint: "Bear Prince."**


	8. Chapter 8: Blaine

"Kurt, that's your phone." Blaine muttered, rolling over and wishing with all his might that Britney Spears would stop singing. Kurt groaned, stretching and trying to reach for it blindly before realizing Blaine's body was in the way. Groggily he rolled over to his hands and knees to climb over Blaine and reach into his bag, pulling out his cell phone.

**Rachel Berry Calling**

Kurt groaned, lying back down on his back next to Blaine and hitting the answer button.

"Rachel, darling?" He asked snarkily, his eyes closed.

"Oh, Kurt, good!" Rachel said, altogether too perky for… eight sixteen in the morning, Kurt discovered, checking the time on his phone.

"Rachel, you _know_ where I am. Why are you calling this early?" Kurt asked.

"Oops! I didn't wake you and Blaine up, did I?" Rachel asked guiltily. "Mercedes said to wait, but I know you usually get up early so you can jog before the sun's all the way up… so I thought…"

"Yes, you did." Kurt cut her off.

"Sorry! Tell Blaine I'm sorry, too." Rachel said, making her voice as sweet and innocent as she could.

"Rachel says she's sorry for waking you up." Kurt said, turning his face to Blaine.

"Hi, Rachel." Blaine said, moving close to the phone so Rachel could hear him. Kurt smiled when Blaine's face settled so close to his, and Blaine returned his smile before settling down, his nose touching Kurt's.

"Hi, Blaine." Rachel said. Kurt sighed, turning the phone on speakerphone and setting it below their faces on Kurt's pillow. "Listen, the reason I'm calling is that Mercedes and I have an idea, and we'd like to share it with you two before we go to the whole group about it." Blaine's eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Me included?" He asked.

"Yeah." Rachel said on the other end of the line. "If you'll help us. We like having you around, Blaine. Besides, you make Kurt happier and less of a bitch."

"HEY!" Kurt said, only faking his indignation. Blaine laughed.

"So what's the idea?" Blaine asked, cutting off his laughter and reaching an arm around Kurt's waist.

"Well, I was hoping you two could come over here. It's going to require a lot of planning, and we need your input." Kurt and Blaine frowned, wondering what it was that she wasn't telling them.

"Well, my sister's nanny isn't going to be here until noon." Blaine said, knocking sleep from his eyes with his fingers. "But we could grab lunch and head that way after."

"Yeah, do that. I bet I can get my dads to make dinner, too." Kurt was concerned now at how much of their day Rachel was planning to take. "I'll see you guys around one, then?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Kurt said. "I wish you'd just tell us."

"It's a surprise, you're going to love it! See you guys later!" Rachel said brightly.

"Bye, Rachel." Kurt and Blaine both said, and Kurt hung up the phone, letting it slide off his pillow onto the bed. Blaine pulled Kurt closer to him, resting his forehead against Kurt's and sliding his arm around his backside so that his hand was against the back of Kurt's thighs.

"Good morning." Kurt said quietly.

"Good morning. I like these pants, they're soft." Blaine said, twisting some of the fabric between his fingers.

"Silk." Kurt muttered, snuggling into Blaine.

"Should have known." Blaine said, moving his arm back up so that it was holding Kurt's firm body to him as Kurt ducked his head under to lie on Blaine's chest.

"No you wouldn't have. And you shouldn't. That's my job." Kurt said. Blaine laughed a little bit.

"How presumptuous of me."

"It's too early for big words. And you need to brush your teeth." Kurt muttered, holding Blaine so closely that Blaine didn't think Kurt would let him do as commanded if he tried.

"So do you."

"Sorry, I had my mouth around your dick last night." Kurt said, causing Blaine to arch into his stomach a little bit and hold his breath. "I don't see why you're getting hard right now, it's not like I'm about to do it again." Kurt teased. Blaine groaned.

"I'll have you remember that I had my mouth on yours first." He said, smirking as he felt Kurt grow hard against him. "Hypocrite."

"Just touch me, won't you?" Kurt murmured. There was no way in hell Blaine was going to refuse. Kurt was driving him wild by talking about it. Thinking back, Blaine was pretty sure this was the first time Kurt had said the word 'dick' around him.

"I take it you don't want me to ruin these nice pajamas of yours? Blaine asked, turned on further by the feel of Kurt stiffening against him.

"Right…" Kurt said. Blaine extracted himself from Kurt's arms and turned Kurt on his back, unbuttoning Kurt's pajama shirt and sliding the halves off of his chest. Blaine pressed a kiss to the hollow below Kurt's neck, making him moan. He moved his hands to the sides of Kurt's chest and placed his thumbs on Kurt's nipples, moving them outwards in a sharp circle and causing Kurt to squirm. Blaine grinned, removing his hands from Kurt's chest and moving them to his waist, where he pulled Kurt's pajama pants down and out of the way, followed by his underwear.

Gently Blaine took Kurt in his hand, but realized he was dry. Looking up, he saw his bottle of lotion on his desk. Wondering why he hadn't thought to bring it closer to the bed in anticipation of need, Blaine apologized to Kurt and went for the bottle, bringing it back to the bed. He squirted some on his hand and took Kurt in his hand again, fisting down firmly, making Kurt murmur. He continued to work firmly on Kurt, his knees on either side of the younger boy as he watched him sleepily react to every move he made. Blaine took Kurt's balls in his other hand, pressing them lightly. Kurt's eyes flew open and he reached for the lotion bottle, putting some on his hand and sticking his hand down Blaine's pants. Blaine gasped as Kurt gripped him and pulled on Kurt stronger than he would have, causing Kurt to moan and pull on Blaine as well. Blaine moaned in return, letting the feeling go through him before pausing to look Kurt in the eyes.

"You're going to be the death of me." He said breathlessly. Kurt basked in his declaration, stroking his thumb back and forth at Blaine's base and smiling as Blaine moaned again. Blaine braced himself above Kurt with the hand not on his penis and looked at Kurt while they both stroked. Blaine was nearly overwhelmed by watching Kurt react while Kurt was touching him as well.

Gradually the two built up steam, watching each other reaction as they moved in tandem. They reached the point where they were both breathless and sweating, Kurt's eyes closed and Blaine's beginning to drift that way.

"I'm gonna come, Blaine." Kurt whispered, and Blaine picked up his pace a little until Kurt did come, briefly pausing on Blaine as he did. Kurt's bliss brought Blaine all the more closer, and it wasn't long after Kurt started pumping him again that he came as well, biting out Kurt's name before plopping down on the bed next to him.

"Your pants are ruined." Kurt said, rolling over to face Blaine, stealing a glance at the wet spot on his crotch.

"I don't care, that was fantastic." Blaine said. Kurt nodded in agreement, but realized Blaine's eyes were closed and settled on kissing him on the forehead before rolling over to the Kleenexes on the bedside table and swabbing himself off. He pulled his pants and boxer briefs back up and settled back into Blaine's arms.

After about ten minutes of gentle cuddling, Kurt sighed.

"I'm going to go wash off really quick and then start on breakfast." Kurt said, making Blaine sigh. "You should probably take a shower."

"Probably." Blaine said, making a face. Kurt laughed, kissing him on the nose.

He climbed over Blaine and off the bed, took his toothbrush and toothpaste from his bag and walked into Blaine's bathroom. Like the bedroom, Blaine's bathroom was green and neglected. Faded, worn-out green towels hung from the walls and all of Blaine's toiletries were in a little pile in the corner of the sink. He brushed his teeth and washed his hands and abdomen, the high water pressure drowning out any sound behind him as he splashed a bit of water onto his face. He turned for a towel to find Blaine standing behind him, holding one out to him.

"Ninja." Kurt muttered, trying to take the towel from his boyfriend. Blaine shook his head, grinning as he held the towel fast. He took each of Kurt's wrists in turn, wiping his hands off before dabbing the water from his stomach.

"There. All dry." Blaine announced. "You should comb your hair, it looks like something got ahold of you." He said with a smirk, leaning around Kurt to the sink, taking his toothbrush and toothpaste.

"You should talk." Kurt said, examining their disheveled appearance in the mirror. It was incredibly sexy, he realized, to see their effects on each other this way. Blaine's hair was flattened on one side of his head but pulled straight out of his curls on the other, and he had light stubble growing in around his jaw that he would normally never let Kurt see. Kurt could see his own stubble as well, but it was so light and delicate he didn't think Blaine would notice. Blaine was right to notice Kurt's hair, though: the fair hairs were piled on top of each other in every which way, giving him the most splendid bedhead anyone could ever achieve. Lending more to their wanton appearances, the hickey on Kurt's chest was still visible.

Kurt retrieved his comb from his bag in the room and returned while Blaine was still brushing his teeth. Blaine kept brushing until Kurt was done combing, which the younger boy tested by running the comb through his hair a few more times than usual just to see how long Blaine would keep his toothpaste in his mouth.

"Now I can say good morning the right way." Blaine said after spitting and rinsing.

"I'd say the way we started as pretty damn right…" Kurt said, rolling his eyes. Blaine laughed, turning to him.

"Not sweet enough." He said gently, and Kurt couldn't help but smile as Blaine took his hands in his, entwining their fingers as he tipped his head up to catch his boyfriend's lips. Their mouths were both cold from the mint of their toothpastes, but Kurt couldn't help giggle at their flavors. Blaine's was vanilla, sweet and light. Kurt's toothpaste was lemon flavored, which was more sour and had a bite to it.

"We taste like a pastry." Kurt murmured a beat after the kiss ended. Blaine giggled; pressing his lips lightly back against Kurt's again.

"It's funny because you're usually the sweet one." Blaine mused, reaching up and running his fingers through Kurt's hair. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"I think we're both so sickly sweet that we're going to melt." He said, scrunching his nose at his boyfriend.

"Guess that's an excuse not to get in that shower."

"Then I wouldn't have you anyway." Kurt teased, making Blaine pout.

"Maybe you are the sour one." Blaine said, scrunching his nose back at Kurt.

"Shoo! I have food to make." Kurt said, playfully pushing Blaine toward the shower.

"Fine." Blaine sighed, playfully dismayed as he turned around and made to obey orders

"Oh, but one more thing." Kurt said, pulling at Blaine's t-shirt until the older boy turned around. The second he saw Blaine's confused look, he let his smile explode from his face and leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Blaine's neck and kissing him forcefully. Dazedly, Blaine slung his arms around Kurt's waist and kissed the younger boy back.

"I like waking up with you." Kurt said as a breathless explanation after ending the kiss, taking Blaine's hand and pressing a kiss to his knuckles. Blaine smiled, and Kurt could see that he was lightly blushing.

"I like waking up with you, too." He said seriously, his eyes soft. "Even if Rachel Berry interrupts." He added the last bit in a flippant tone, grinning and losing his momentary seriousness. Kurt winced.

"Never again."

"Go make food, I'm hungry." Blaine said, kissing Kurt beside his eye. Kurt smiled and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He went back over to his bag and put on deodorant and buttoned his pajama pants. Just as he was leaving the room he heard the shower start.

Kurt descended the Andersons' large staircase to find the girls still in their sleeping bags, though Jessie was awake and looking at him as he reached the bottom. She smiled at him, and Kurt smiled back, tipping his head in the direction of the kitchen. Jessie climbed out of the sleeping bag and followed him in.

"Good morning, Miss Jessie. How are you this morning?" He asked, looking in the Andersons' refrigerator to figure out what breakfast foods were available. He pulled eggs, milk, ham and cheese from the refrigerator and set them on the island.

"I'm good. How's your lip?" She asked. It took Kurt a few seconds to figure out what she was talking about, especially after his internal freak-out the night before over how puffy his lip was after he finished with Blaine.

"Oh, it's fine. Your brother was totally overreacting about it." He said. "Can you find me a skillet and some vegetable oil? I think your brother told you I was going to make breakfast, and I want to make some omelets as well as pancakes." He said, and Jessie set about the task.

"What did you do to your lip, anyway? Bite it?" Kurt had to try hard not to laugh as he remembered that Jessie didn't know what happened to his lip in the first place. It seemed downright angelic in comparison.

"Yeah, bit it." He said, taking the materials from her and setting her after the dry materials for the pancakes. When she brought them and a bowl back, he set her on the island and directed her on beginning to make them as he started on the omelets. He was particularly surprised when he had to teach her how to crack an egg.

"Jessica I-Don't-Know-Your-Middle-Name Anderson, are you telling me that you're nine years old and don't know how to crack an egg?" He said, the aghast tone of his voice only half-faked. Jessie shrugged.

"Natalie." Jessie supplied. "Jessica Natalie Anderson. And no one's ever taught me to cook. How'd you learn?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Well, my mom taught me the basics when I was really little, and then I had my babysitters teach me until I was old enough to start learning for myself. Rachel Ray helps, too." He said, demonstrating how to crack an egg for his omelet now that his ham in the other pan had cooked.

"Why'd your mom stop teaching you?" Jessie asked, watching him. Kurt took a deep breath and sighed, turning back to her.

"Well, she died." Kurt said softly before sprinkling some cheese into his omelet.

"Oh! I'm sorry." Jessie said guiltily. Kurt gave her a small smile.

"It's okay. You didn't know. Besides, it's not like I don't know she's gone." Kurt said with a little smile. "But I am going to teach you how to crack an egg. Here, hold it like this." He said, demonstrating and walking her through the steps without actually cracking the egg. He let her do it, and smiled as she did it almost perfectly. He picked the little bit of shell that had fallen in out and gave her the egg in his hand.

"That was great, Jessie. Here, do it again." He said. Concentrating, she did it again, this time managing to get the egg in without the shell.

"I DID IT!" She screamed ecstatically, clapping her hands and beaming at Kurt.

"You did! That's great!" Kurt said, smiling as Jessie moved to give him a hug.

"What's being accomplished in here?" Blaine asked, entering the room. Jessie turned around, beaming at her older brother.

"Kurt taught me to crack an egg!" She answered him. Kurt smiled, trying not to blush at the pleased look on Blaine's face.

"She did it without getting any shell in on her second try. The girl's a natural!" Kurt answered, turning back to the omelet and flipping it.

"Nice one, Jess. If there's anyone to learn to cook from, it's Kurt. Actually, go wake up Allie. I'll stir this, and when you get back you can help make the pancakes on the skillet." He said, lifting his little sister from the island and watching as she left the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, he walked over to Kurt and put his neck on Kurt's shoulder, looping his arms around him.

"How is it the past two times I've walked into this kitchen, you've been doing something wonderful for my little sister?" He asked, watching over Kurt's shoulder as the younger boy scooped the omelet off of the skillet and onto the plate before turning around in his arms.

"Jessie's sweet." Was all he said, smiling.

"You're sweet." Blaine countered, standing on his tiptoes and kissing him before landing back on his heels, turning around to stir the pancake batter as Kurt diligently began another omelet.

"I'm just glad she likes me." Kurt admitted as he pushed chunks of ham around with the spatula.

"Of course she likes you." Blaine said, reminding Kurt of that time around Valentines' day when Blaine was surprised Kurt didn't take it for granted that he knew the younger boy's coffee order.

Jessie came back in and Blaine showed her how to help him finish stirring the batter. Kurt interrupted and contradicted something Blaine said more than once, causing the older boy to roll his eyes and tell his sister to do what Kurt told him to.

Allie wandered in, dragging a blanket behind her and plopping down on the floor disinterested as they worked.

"Allie, what time is your mom picking you up?" Blaine asked, beginning to show Jessie how to scoop pancake batter onto the electric skillet.

"Ten-thirty." Allie said sleepily.

"Do you want an omelet, Allie?" Kurt asked, taking the third omelet off the skillet.

"No thank you." Allie said. Kurt and Blaine both covered laughter. Kurt turned the oven off and put the skillet he had been working on in the sink, opening the bottom cabinet to look for soap. Blaine turned to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't be stupid, I'm going to do the dishes." He said, snatching the soap away. "You help Jessie with the pancakes, master chef."

"You keep calling him 'master,' do you always do that?" Allie asked sleepily from the other side of the room. Kurt and Blaine both bent over in half from laughter that they weren't even bothering to restrain.

"No." They answered at the same time, sending them into further laughter. Jessie looked down at them from the counter, confused.

"Kurt, I think the bubbles are stopping!" She said, pointing at the pancake.

"Okay, good, see if you can scoot the spatula under the pancake, and if you can, flip it over." He said breathlessly. Jessie did as directed, accomplishing her task on the first try, but smearing the batter a little bit. Kurt gave her a high five and set her on to starting another one, this time showing her how to make it a smiley face.

Eventually the four set about sitting down tat the small four-person table in the kitchen to eat the meal Kurt, Jessie and Blaine had concocted.

"I have half a mind to start calling you master." Blaine whispered in Kurt's ear as they sat down next to each other, earning him an elbow in the ribs. The four talked and ate, and Kurt and Blaine made a large deal out of telling Jessie just how good the pancakes tasted.

Kurt, the last to finish, was just done eating when Allie's mom showed up for her. The little girl grabbed her things and stumbled out sleepily, forgetting to thank Jessie and Blaine for allowing her to stay and coming back in five minutes to say a quick "thank you for inviting me." Before leaving again.

Kurt made to pick up his dishes, but Blaine put a forceful arm out in front of him, giving him a firm look.

"Don't even think about it." Blaine said, picking up Kurt's dish and walking to the sink. Kurt looked at Jessie and rolled his eyes. "Do you want to go take a shower?" Blaine asked from the sink.

Kurt ran a hand through his hair, hating the oily, gross feeling of having sweated in it. He was pretty gross all around, really.

"Yeah, I probably should." He said with a sigh.

"Go on, use mine. We'll be down here when you're done." Blaine said, turning around and giving Kurt a little smile.

"Okay, thanks." Kurt said with a returning smile and left the room.

Blaine's face fell a little as his boyfriend left. Even as necessary as it was, he felt a little let down every time one of them left the room for more than a second without a little kiss or a hand squeeze or other small acknowledgement. How long had they been _that_ sort of couple, Blaine wondered, that it was such a constant? He didn't _think_ they were too touchy-feely…

"Kurt's your boyfriend, isn't he?" Jessie asked from the table. Blaine shot out of his reverie to look at his little sister, kicking her legs back and forth and grinning at him in triumph.

"How'd you figure that out?" Blaine said, shocked. Shocked and worried, really. They hadn't been _that_ loud, had they? Blaine's blood began to run cold. What if she slipped and mentioned it to their parents? Then he'd be in trouble for not only having a boyfriend, but for bringing his boyfriend around Jessie.

"It's kind of obvious." Jessie snickered, picking up her plate and the one Allie had left and bringing them to the sink, standing next to Blaine. "You guys look at each other more than boys usually do, and when you do it's all gooey. I can't remember you ever having someone stay the night. You're always with him, and you've told me about him before, and you're always smiling when you're talking about him. He makes you happy, doesn't he?" She asked, catching him off guard.

"Yeah," Blaine smiled, "he does."

"I can tell. You've been a lot happier this summer." Jessie said, scraping the plates into the garbage disposal. "How long have you been dating him?"

"Just over two months. But we've known been friends since November, so it feels like a lot longer." Blaine explained. It was true, he felt like he had been in a relationship with Kurt for seven months instead of two. He always became flustered with Wes and David's remarks on how he and Kurt were 'painfully obvious' the entire time Kurt was at Dalton, but they had a point.

"Does that make a difference?" Jessie asked, handing Blaine the plates to put in the dishwasher.

"Yeah, it really does." Blaine said, setting the plates down inside. Blaine felt as though a weight had been taken off his chest by talking about Kurt with Jessie. It had been physically straining him to lie to his little sister about such a big part of his life. But Blaine couldn't help but feel a little panicky over the idea of his parents finding out. "Listen, Jess…"

"I'm not going to tell them, Blaine." Jessie said softly. Blaine was beginning to wonder where a nine-year-old learned to be so perceptive. "I remember when they yelled at you last time." Blaine tried to give her a little smile, but he knew they were both thinking about "last time:" the Sadie Hawkins dance.

It had gone worse than the beating, Blaine remembered, which had left him with a concussion and a fractured arm. It was weird to remember how young Jessie had been at the time.

"You're the best, Jess." Blaine said with a smile, bending over to kiss her on the top of the forehead. Jessie just smiled. They continued to clean the kitchen in a comfortable silence until Kurt bounced into the kitchen. He had on that hat again, but this time he wore tight jean capri-type shorts that went to just over his knee instead of the short pants he had been wearing the day before and a faux-faded red short sleeved cardigan over a white t-shirt.

"That hat covering something?" Blaine asked with a smirk. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Well, my hair's still damp because I couldn't find a hairdryer, so yes. But I did plan to wear it again today so I wouldn't have to put it in my bag."

"Oh, forgot." Blaine said with a laugh. "I don't have one. My hair poofs like an afro if I blow dry it." Blaine said with a laugh.

"Mine too." Jessie said from behind Blaine. "Kurt, can you do my hair again today?" She asked a little sheepishly. Kurt smiled.

"Bring me a comb and I'll do it." Kurt said with a winning smile. Jessie smiled back.

"You should know," Blaine said, leaning on the island counter, "that Miss Jessica figured out that we're dating." He shot Jessie a look and she grinned deviously. Kurt's eyebrows lifted, but he couldn't help but beam at how happy Blaine seemed about it.

"Uh oh, am I in for a 'don't hurt my brother or else' speech?" He asked, not able to stop smiling as he watched Blaine's reaction to his little sister out of the corner of his eye.

"Just take it for granted." Jessie said with a matching smile. Kurt had a feeling Blaine was about to burst.

"Well, go get that hairbrush and I'll do your hair, I have the perfect idea." Kurt said, and Jessie smiled again and ran off.

As soon as she was out of the room, Kurt and Blaine both started walking toward each other instantly, and when they met Kurt ambushed Blaine with a tight hug. Kurt pulled back and kissed Blaine lightly.

"I know this means a lot to you." He whispered, his forehead against Blaine's. He smiled and began to bounce up and down a little bit out of giddiness. Blaine laughed and started to bounce up and down, too.

"What are you guys doing?" Jessie asked, reappearing in the doorway. Kurt and Blaine nearly fell over from laughing.

"We're just excited you know we're dating." Blaine admitted sheepishly.

"Then you could have just told me in the first place. You guys aren't going to start kissing, are you? Lucy Montgomery is always kissing boys at the country club and I hate it. Kissing is gross." She said, pulling a face and sticking out her tongue.

"I couldn't agree more, Jessie." Kurt said, scrunching his nose at Blaine and laughing. Blaine rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's do that hair."

Kurt put Jessie's hair in a ballerina bun on the top of her head, with some of her shorter curls peeking around the edges of her face.

"You'll hear other girls talking about messy buns," Kurt said as he showed her what her hair looked like in the toaster again, "but don't do it. Your hair has texture already, so you don't need all the pieces everywhere. They'll just look cluttery."

"Thanks, Kurt. Why do you know this stuff?" She asked.

"I read a lot of magazines. I want to design clothes someday." Kurt said with a smile. Jessie nodded.

"Speaking of clothes, you need to change, Jess. Therese will be here in an hour and won't be pleased if she gets here and you're still in your pajamas." Blaine said, pointing her upstairs. Jessie sighed and went.

Exactly at noon, the nanny arrived. Again, Kurt was taken aback by how impersonal Blaine was with the nanny. Kurt had already retrieved his bag from Blaine's room, so the two left almost immediately after she arrived, each giving Jessie a hug before exiting the house and getting into Blaine's car.

"So, I take it Therese wasn't your nanny?" Kurt asked, looking over at Blaine as they pulled away from the house. The older boy nodded.

"My nanny was an Italian woman named Felicita." He said the name with a particularly pretty accent. "She was Jessie's too, obviously. My parents let her go after I came out to them." Kurt winced.

"They blamed her?" Kurt asked, knowing they were getting on a hard subject for Blaine. Kurt still didn't know all the details about Blaine's coming out.

"They said she had facilitated it. It was dumb. I was in high school. But they tried to change as much as possible. I remember overhearing my parents talking about how Jessie was still young enough that 'things' could be prevented from spreading." Blaine said wearily.

"That's ridiculous." Kurt said, frowning. "How old were you?" He held his breath, waiting to see how Blaine would answer. Kurt had never pressed for the details on what happened to Blaine before.

"Nearly fifteen." Blaine said, his voice low as he got on the highway and sped the car up. "It was an after effect of that Sadie Hawkins dance I told you about." Kurt's frown grew in intensity as he waited to see if Blaine would go on. He did.

"We… we ended up in the hospital." Kurt gasped. "I had a concussion and a fractured wrist, and Robbie, my date, had a broken collarbone. A couple that had gone out back of the school to make out found us and got the principal, who called for the ambulance and called my dad's cell. He had already been picking us up from the dance, which he thought we were just going to together like any normal friends. He and my mom got to the hospital at different times, and started asking questions." Blaine swallowed. "Finally Mom came across Robbie's mother, who knew he was gay and that we were going to the dance together. She told her, and my mother fainted. They came in and asked me if it was true, and I said yes. My dad was furious. When they brought me home, he couldn't stop yelling. Jessie was seven at the time, and she was really scared."

Kurt put a hand on Blaine's back, rubbing softly. He wanted to take Blaine in his arms and hold him, but of course that wasn't possible with Blaine driving. Kurt was lucky. Blaine wasn't.

"He told me never to act on it. He told me if I did, there'd be consequences. That's why I can't tell them about you, Kurt." Blaine said, looking over at Kurt apologetically. Kurt ran his hand through Blaine's hair.

"It's okay. And now Jessie knows!" He said with a small smile that Blaine returned, turning his eyes back to the road. He took Kurt's hand and held it to his lips, pressing a kiss against it for a few seconds.

"The two of you mean the world to me." He said, resting their hands on the armrest between them, his fingers laced with Kurt's. "I'm really glad you two could meet."

**Author's Note: Hi, everyone! Thank you all **_**so much**_** for the kind reviews. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm really touched by them. I think "headcanon" is my new favorite compliment ever :) I'm glad that everyone seems to be enjoying Jessie!**


	9. Chapter 9: Fantastic

"Rachel Barbara Berry, what in the hell are we here for?" Kurt asked the brunette girl opened the door. Rachel pursed her lips jokingly, rolling her eyes.

"So nice you could join us, Kurt. Hi, Blaine." As snarkily as she greeted Kurt, she was a little awkward in saying hello to Blaine. She couldn't help but remember the slightly embarrassing implications of the last time he had stood on her doorstep.

"Hi, Rachel." Blaine said with a small smile. It was awkward for Blaine, too, but he tried to keep it in good humor. Besides, Rachel had Finn, however much Blaine doubted the practicality of the relationship.

"Come on in, guys. We're set up in the living room. Did you two have lunch?" She asked, escorting them into the house. Kurt was once again horribly frightened by the oil painting of Rachel and her fathers hanging on the wall.

"We grabbed some Subway at a small town on the way." Blaine supplied, hoping that by not shying away from conversation, he and Rachel could get over their awkwardness. As absolutely crazy as he believed the girl to be, he couldn't help but like her- as a friend. He admired her tenacity and dedication, and through Kurt's descriptions he had a glance at the softer side of Rachel Berry.

"Okay. Well, we have some hummus and crackers on the coffee table, and there's soda, water and tea in the cooler next to it." Kurt's eyebrows furrowed.

"And the reason for all the elaborate setup?" Kurt asked as they reached the living room, where Mercedes waved at them from the sofa, helping herself to some of the hummus. Rachel clapped her hands together, her face lighting up in a way that usually harkened either a stroke of genius or a total disaster.

It was funny how little difference there was between the two when it came to Rachel Berry.

"We're going to plan a musical." She said, her eyes bright. Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"Continue."

"Well, Mr. Shue's ex-wife ran off to Florida, so we're probably not going to be blessed with tickets to nationals again. Mercedes and I were brainstorming fundraising ideas last night, and we thought of a musical." She turned to Blaine. "You don't have to help us if you don't want to, but I thought you might think it was fun. And if you get the other Warblers involved we could always split profits." Blaine smiled at her.

"I'll bring it up at our weekly meeting Monday. I have a feeling they'll want to help, if for nothing else but to have something to do. Besides, we won't be in your region or section this year, so I'm pretty sure they'd be up for a little friendly competition at Nationals."

"Or just up for the idea of having an in with a school with girls." Kurt said, rolling his eyes. Blaine laughed.

"True. But, trust me, Rachel, we don't need the money. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars in our booster account. It's gross."

"Well, we'll work something out if they do it. But will you, regardless?" She asked, a winning smile spreading across her face. It barely took Blaine a second to know what his answer was. A musical would be a way not only to perform this summer, but also to be close to Kurt. Besides, Nationals was in New York again the coming year. He hadn't told Kurt yet, but he hoped to go to Fordham for college. He knew Kurt wanted to go to NYU. It'd be nice to get a chance to go together before they moved there.

"Of course." Blaine replied with a smile. Rachel clapped her hands again and gestured them to the sofa.

"Well look who left the love shack." Mercedes said as Kurt sat down next to her. He swatted at her, but smiled. Blaine sat down on Kurt's other side, taking his hand.

"Great! Okay. The four of us are going to manage this project, because out of the group, we're the four most talented." Rachel said unabashedly. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Umm, Rachel? We need to pick a musical." Mercedes said. "Weren't you, like, composing one, Kurt?" She asked. It took Blaine all he had not to laugh. If anything, this just proved how much Mercedes had wanted to get away from them at the coffee shop.

"Pip Pip Hooray!" Kurt gushed. "I have to admit, I don't have a single song written, or really a plot. But I do have several costumes for the lead that would almost put…"

"It's about Pippa Middleton." Blaine clarified for Rachel. She facepalmed. Mercedes still looked confused. "The maid of honor from the royal wedding. The bride's younger sister."

"Overlooked!" Kurt cried dramatically. "To think, the emotional turmoil of knowing your older sister gets to be a princess, and all you get is smacked around in the tabloids for dancing around in a bra! And then she meets eyes with Harry, but Harry has a slutty girlfriend, but there's no way she could help but feel…"

"Kurt, I don't think that would really work for what we're trying to do." Rachel interrupted. "It's a lovely idea, and I'm sure the costumes would look great…"

"But I don't think we really have the cast." Mercedes backed her up.

"Oh, fine." Kurt said, not really disappointed. Blaine had a creeping feeling that Kurt had lost a lot of his momentum with this particular project.

"So what musical do you suggest we do? It'd be kind of hard for us to get rights." Mercedes said.

"Then go without them." Blaine said, causing all three of the others to look at him. Kurt's mouth fell open; couldn't help but think how by-the-book Blaine was and how he always insisted on the Warblers buying full every member a copy of sheet music instead of making photocopies. "We can do what Kurt was going to do with the princess musical: write our own."

"Yeah, but my idea sucked." Kurt said, causing Blaine to smile. Rachel and Mercedes exchanged looks of mutual disbelief at the show of humility.

"Well we'll go with another one. And we'll all play to our strengths." He reasoned. "You can design the clothes," Kurt grinned at Blaine's suggestion, "Rachel can write or pick the songs," Rachel's face lit up at the display of faith. "Mercedes can direct." Blaine went on with a nod in her direction. Mercedes grinned, showing all of her teeth in delight. "I don't know what I can do, but…"

"Well, you'll write the script." Kurt said, flailing his hands. He turned from Blaine to the girls. "Blaine won Dalton's school-wide creative writing contest this year."

"Whoa." Both girls said at once.

"It was nothing." Blaine said modestly, blushing. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Right. It just won you a thousand-dollar scholarship and was mandatory for every student in the school." Kurt said, smirking. Blaine sighed.

"So we're going to do this?" Mercedes asked, looking up to Rachel.

"Hell yes we are." Rachel said, her eyes lighting up and her fists clenched at her sides as she walked over to the floor on the other side of the coffee table, her knees tucked up at her side because of her skirt. She pulled four notebooks with pens hooked to the spirals out from under the table and handed them to each person in the room. Blaine could tell they were color coded, as hers was red, Kurt's was pale yellow, Mercedes' was purple and his own was dark blue. He looked down to the cover where his name was written in sparkling gold sharpie and a gold star sticker dotted I in his name. He glanced at Kurt's. His sticker was after his name.

"Okay. Before we write on the first page," Rachel began, "we need a name for our musical. Personally, I think we need something with a lot of punch and distinction. You never know what other choirs will be putting on musicals this summer."

"Shouldn't we figure out what the musical is going to be about before we name it?" Mercedes asked.

"Most major works have a working title but rename after the project is complete." Blaine said, testing out his pen discretely. It was blue gel ink.

"Well, let's pick a working title, then, and write in on the first line. We'll leave space for the official title above it."

"Why does it matter how we make our notebooks?" Kurt asked, his eyelids lowered.

"So when this is a smash hit it will look good in the museum!" Rachel said exasperatedly. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Pretending these will end up in a museum, isn't the appeal of things like this to see the quirks and the process within them?" He asked.

If you want to look like a disorganized fool, be my guest." She said. "So what do we want the play to be about?"

"What genre are we shooting for here?" Blaine asked, flipping his pen back and forth in his fingers.

"Nothing too serious. I get enough drama out of the people in this club as it is." Mercedes said, leaning back.

"Well, I'm not exactly a highly comedic writer," Blaine admitted.

"What are you talking about? Your story was hilarious. Holden Caulfield and Bella Swan having a deep conversation was probably the funniest thing I've ever read." Kurt said, looking at Blaine.

"What?" Mercedes asked.

"Yeah, but it wasn't like, overtly funny. It was only funny if you got it." Blaine explained.

"So we make it something everyone can understand." Kurt said.

"Unlike Holden Coolfield." Mercedes asserted.

"Caulfield. It's from _The Catcher in the Rye_." Kurt said dismissively. Mercedes looked at him like he grew another head.

"Since when do you read?" She asked.

"I did go to a prep school for half the year, you know. Besides, I've always liked to read. It's why I'm not on the internet as much as the rest of you." He said.

"So what's something everyone knows?" Rachel said, dragging them back to the topic at hand.

"Well, there's children's stories." Blaine said.

"Children's stories? Like what, Harry Potter?" Rachel asked, looking up.

"No! As much as I love it, what type of weirdo makes a musical about Harry Potter?" Blaine said, making a face. "I meant like fairy tales."

"Because that's any less weird." Mercedes said, her voice full of ennui as she tossed her pen up in the air and caught it.

"No, I think he has a point." Rachel said, putting a hand up. "If we do a musical about fairy tales, it will draw a lot more people than something not a lot of people know. I mean, look at Disney."

"But if we make a musical about fairy tales with original music it will be too stupid to handle." Kurt said, sitting up a little. His mind was starting to fill with princess dresses.

"We'll use outside music, then." Rachel said. "Maybe write one or two of the songs, but mostly use songs like we'd do in Glee club."

"Is that legal?" Mercedes asked, her eyebrows rising.

"Is anything we do legal?" Kurt asked under his breath. "If we buy sheet music we should be alright. We don't even do that half the time in glee club."

"Really?" Blaine asked, looking disgusted.

"We're not exactly a rich school, prep school boy." Mercedes said.

"So what's our working title?" Kurt asked Rachel and Blaine. Rachel thought for a minute, biting her red pen.

"_Fantastic_." Rachel said with a wide smile. Blaine returned it.

"_Fantastic_." He repeated.

"Okay. Everyone move down to the floor and write it on the table so it isn't sloppy." Rachel said. The three moved down: Blaine did so obediently with a smile still on his face, Kurt rolled his eyes, and Mercedes let out a loud sigh. They all moved to write the working title on the first line of the paper.

"Rachel," Kurt said, his voice low, "I can't read my writing in yellow pen." He said evenly. Blaine had to bite back a laugh.

"Oh." Rachel said, sounding disappointed. "Well, I guess I can go get you my gold pen. Be right back…" She stood up and went off to her room. Kurt banged his forehead down on his notebook.

"I thought this was your idea, too?" He asked Mercedes. She shrugged.

"She told her idea to me. I wasn't really involved. I'm fine with whatever as long as she stays off my back and lets me direct." Mercedes said.

"Well she's going to be a nightmare. Color-coded notebooks. And she's really expecting us to stay through dinner?" Kurt asked, rolling his head to face her, his cheek brushing against the cool paper of the notebook.

"Yeah, I'm not staying. So she or Blaine is going to have to drop you off at your car." Mercedes said.

"Why aren't you staying?" Kurt asked, his eyes widening in anger at the thought of the abandonment.

"It's Saturday." She said, turning away.

"So?" Kurt asked, confused. Mercedes blinked a few times, biting her tongue.

"So, she has a date with Sam." Blaine said, grinning. Kurt's face lit up.

"How did you…" She asked, turning sharply to the dark-headed boy.

"We saw you guys holding hands at the coffee shop. You two make a cute couple." He said, taking a chip and dipping it in the hummus.

"No, we don't." Mercedes said quietly. Kurt looked at her sharply.

"What in the hell do you-"

"Here!" Rachel called, reentering the room and cutting him off, gold pen in hand. "This will match your notebook and be more legible." She said. She took her seat, and the four of them returned to plotting their project.

"Rach, we're home!" Came a man's voice after a door opened a few hours later.

"We're in here, Daddy!" Rachel called back. Blaine looked up as two men entered the room. One had the strong appearance of Jewish features like Rachel's, and the other was black. He recognized them from Rachel's frightening family portrait as her dads.

"Hi, Kurt, Mercedes." The black one said. "And who's this?" He asked kindly, settling his eyes on Blaine.

"This is Blaine, Kurt's boyfriend." Rachel said, turning to her fathers and back to Blaine. "Blaine, these are my dads- Hiram," she said, gesturing to the Jewish man, who nodded, "and Leroy." The black man waved.

"Nice to meet you, Blaine. We've heard a lot about you from these two." Hiram said, smiling at Blaine. Blaine blushed, wondering what they knew about his short experiment at dating Rachel.

"Nice to meet you, too. Both of you." He said, nodding at them politely. He looked over at Kurt, who was beaming.

"No Finn?" Hiram asked Rachel after looking around the room.

"No, Dad, this time it's just the four of us. We're planning a musical." She said proudly. Her dads both smiled.

"Can't wait for it, Princess." Leroy said. "We're going to head up to our room to watch Maddow from last night. We'll start dinner in an hour. Blaine, make yourself at home."

"Thank you, er… Sir." Blaine said, and the men smiled at him and started upstairs.

"Rachel, are both of your dads Mr. Berry?" Blaine asked after they left. Rachel nodded.

"They married in Massachusetts and Dad took Daddy's name." Rachel said. Blaine thought she meant Hiram took Leroy's name, but he wasn't quite sure.

An hour later, Hiram reemerged and went into the kitchen, telling the kids that he was going to make pasta.

"'I'm actually about to leave, Hiram." Mercedes said, and Hiram nodded.

"Where _are_ you going?" Rachel asked Mercedes before turning back to jotting down song ideas for Cinderella.

"My parents want to go bowling." Mercedes said, pretending to write something in her notebook as well, but shooting the boys threatening looks. Both sucked in their lips and looked down innocently.

"Oh. Well, that's cool I guess." Rachel said. "Here, give me your notebook." She said, holding out her hand. Mercedes closed it and handed it to the Jewish girl.

"I'll see you guys later." Mercedes said, standing up and smiling threateningly at the boyfriends before leaving the room.

"She's acting weird today." Rachel said, continuing to scribble away. Kurt and Blaine both shrugged.

**Hi guys! Short chapter, but I finally got around to the other characters! I can't help but put in a lot of dialogue with them. Hope you all enjoy it, and once again, thank you so, so, so much for the nice reviews! I'm glad you're enjoying my story :)**


	10. Chapter 10: Annie

"So, we're meeting at Rachel's again tomorrow?" Blaine asked. Kurt nodded before remembering that his boyfriend couldn't see him over the phone.

"That's right. We'll meet every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday until we're ready to hold auditions." Kurt said, looking out the window of the family's extra television room on the second floor. It intended to be a home office, but since no one in the family needed one, it had become a room for the smaller of the two family televisions. Since Burt and Finn usually agreed on television programming, it had mostly fallen to Kurt's use. He had a bookcase full of his books against one wall and three of magazines on the opposite. He was currently sitting in the bay window, a stack of 2008 copies of Vogue next to him as he went through them for costume ideas for the musical. He had set them aside when Blaine had called.

"I'd rather have them every day so I could have an excuse to see you." Blaine admitted softly. Kurt sighed.

"Same. I'd especially like to see you on Thursday." He stopped. It sounded like a whine.

"I'm going to come see you on Thursday no matter what." Blaine said forcefully. "I'm not getting left out of your birthday, Mr. Hummel."

"You're already taking me out Friday night. You don't have to come down on Thursday." Kurt said, downcasting his eyes, feeling guilty for mentioning it.

"Kurt, stop. I want to see you on your birthday. And, if you have to know, Carole called me and asked me to come to your family birthday dinner. It was supposed to be a surprise." Kurt's face lit up.

"Well, in that case…" He said, resting his face against the cold glass, smiling.

"In that case, I'll just have to find a new way to surprise you." Blaine teased, making Kurt blush.

"You don't have to surprise me." Kurt said, fidgeting with the corner of one of the magazines.

"But I want to." Blaine said, his voice low. Kurt's pulse picked up.

"_Stop it._" Kurt nearly whispered. Blaine giggled.

"What are you doing right now?" Blaine asked. Kurt sighed.

"I'm watching out the window for my cousin Annie. My dad went to the airport to pick her up a while ago, so they should be here any minute." Kurt said, moving so he could see a little bit further around a tree in their neighbor's front yard.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Blaine said, and Kurt could tell he was hiding some disappointment in his voice. "You should bring her to our meeting tomorrow, I'd love to meet her." Blaine said, his voice a little brighter.

"You think Rachel will be cool with that?" Kurt asked, thinking. He knew that if he took Annie with him to practice they'd have to take her to dinner with them, and he wanted time with Blaine alone.

"We can all go out to dinner together and then we could drop her off at your house and the two of us can go to the park alone." Blaine said, demonstrating his ability to basically read Kurt's mind. "I'm sure Rachel will be fine with her coming, didn't you tell me that she wants to be an author?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah." Kurt murmured.

"Well then she can help me out. I have a lot done, but I could use the help. I'm sure Rachel wouldn't have a problem with Annie helping me." Blaine said forcefully.

"I guess." Kurt said.

"I will make up for making you let me meet your cousin at the park." Blaine said, making Kurt smile.

"You better." He said. "Sorry I'm being stupid, I'm just selfish." He admitted.

"It's okay as long as you're selfish about me." Blaine said, making Kurt smile more. "So what are you doing once she gets there?"

"Well, Finn's at team camp at OSU and Carole's chaperoning, so Dad and I are taking her out to dinner and then just basically letting her settle in." Kurt said. "Kind of a quiet night."

"Well call me before you go to bed, okay?" Blaine asked.

"I mean, Annie and I haven't seen each other face-to-face in a few years, so we have a lot to catch up on. We might be up talking for a while." Kurt said.

"I don't mind waiting up unless you don't want me to." Blaine said quietly.

"No, no, of course I don't!" Kurt said quickly. "I'm just warning you. Of course I want to talk to you tonight!"

"Okay. I just really miss you since I didn't see you yesterday and don't get to see you again today." Blaine said quietly. Kurt sighed.

"I miss you, too. But once we get this musical put together we'll have practices every day. And you'll have me so much you'll get sick of me." Kurt chirped. There was movement behind the tree, and he crouched down so he could see what it was.

"I'm never going to get sick of you. It's always something new with you, there's nothing to get sick of." Blaine said gently, making Kurt's heart flutter. There it was, his father pulling into the driveway, his cousin in tow.

"I love you. They just go here, so I'm going to let you go, but I love you and I'll talk to you tonight and see you tomorrow." He said, standing up and starting quickly for the door.

"Love you too." Blaine said, and Kurt hung the phone up quickly, putting it in his pocket as he ran down the stairs and out the door.

As he turned to the driveway he saw Annie, her bags in tow as she got out of Burt's truck. She saw him immediately and smiled widely at him, her light brown curls bobbing around her face.

"Kurt!" She cried, dropping her bags and running to him. Kurt picked her up and spun her around before putting her back down and folding her into a hug as each kissed the other's cheek. Burt stood by the truck laughing.

"Anna Elisa Shriver, where have you been all these years?" He said, pushing her back so he could look at her. She had gained a great deal of weight since he had last seen her, but he wasn't concerned. She was still his beautiful cousin, with her perfect hair. He grabbed one of her curls and began to bounce it in his hand.

"How did you get your hair to stay like this on the plane ride? Not even Quinn Fabray can do that." He said, loving the way her hair shone different colors in the light. In truth, their hair was the exact same color, texture and thickness, and he had always been envious of her for being able to grow it out and style it.

"Fine hold hairspray." Annie giggled, reaching up and poking Kurt's hair, which was styled up. "And how on earth do you do this?" She asked.

"The smallest bit of gel and that fine hold hairspray of which you speak." Kurt said with a wink. "I see you haven't grown an inch." He said. Annie was as short as Rachel Berry, he realized. It was a particularly scary realization, especially since he knew that Annie could display just as much tenacity.

"And I see you've grown several." She said, looking up at him. "Seriously, what's your secret? I want to grow that much." She said, pouting. Kurt grinned, taking her arm and walking back to the car.

"Fairy dust." He said with a smirk.

"Well you have not shortage of that." She said, sticking out his tongue. Kurt grinned devilishly.

"You have _no_ idea." He whispered.

"THAT'S RIGHT! YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND NOW!" Annie exclaimed, gripping his arm and making Kurt and Burt laugh even harder.

"Yeah, and it's amazing that Kurt's here to greet you instead of being with him." Burt said, leaning over the truck. Kurt made a face at him before looking back down at Annie.

"Yes I do. His name is Blaine, and he suggested you come with me to our meeting tomorrow." Kurt said. "We're going to produce an original musical." He explained at the puzzled look on Annie's face.

"You and your boyfriend are producing a musical?" Annie asked as Kurt bent over and picked up her bags.

"Well, yeah, but with help from my friends Rachel and Mercedes. You remember Rachel Berry, right?" He asked, extending his arm to her again.

"Of course I do! We were really good friends back in elementary. Competitive friends, but still friends." Anne mused. Kurt smiled.

"That's how we are now. We're in glee club together." Kurt said, walking them into the house.

"Glee club? People still use that term anymore?" Annie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, glee club." Kurt said with a smirk. "You know, show choir." Annie rolled her eyes.

"Really, Kurt? Show choir? With the ugly outfits and the lame dance moves?" She asked, imitating a hand movement the choir Coach Sylvester directed might have used.

"No, not like that. At least ours isn't. And that's why we're so good." He said with a wink. Annie rolled her eyes.

"A good show choir. That's something you're going to have to prove for me to believe." She said as Kurt led her into the guest room.

"I will. Artie Abrams is in it, too. Wasn't he your neighbor?" Kurt asked, setting her bags down on the bed.

"Artie? But how could Artie be in a show choir?" Annie asked hesitantly. Kurt laughed.

"That just shows how awesome we are." He said. "So, you're going to be staying in here. The closet is around that corner, and it's walk in so you can fit all the pretty clothes that I'm making you buy this summer." He said, looking sadly at her small bags. Really, airlines were just cruel.

"I'm sure you will. Are you still aspiring to fashion design?" she asked, unzipping a bag.

"Of course I am." He said, laying down across the bed. He could smell fabric softener he had used on the sheets, they had gone through an intensive cleaning process since he and Blaine had stayed the night. He pulled out his phone and typed a quick text to Blaine.

**Annie's staying in the guest room. Glad I washed the sheets so thoroughly… -Kurt.**

"Is it still an author for you?" He asked. Annie nodded.

"Yup. Mom's a little disappointed I chose English over journalism, but I feel so smothered by the concept of never being able to make a mistake.

**Why would you tell me that? I'll feel guilty meeting her knowing that. –Blaine.** Kurt chuckled.

"Texting your boyfriend?" Annie asked, raising her eyebrows at Kurt. Kurt nodded. "I want to see a picture." She said, moving her shoes into the closet floor as Kurt searched through his phone for a good picture of Blaine. Most of his pictures involved Blaine pretending to bite Kurt, so those wouldn't work. Finally he found one he had taken of Blaine practicing for "Raise Your Glass". He spun around to the base of the bed and turned the phone in Annie's direction.

"Why is he on a sofa?" Annie asked, her brows furrowing.

"He just does that. He's weird. All the other photos involved him pretending to eat me, so I thought this was best." Kurt sighed, smiling.

"Cute." Annie said, taking the phone and zooming in on Blaine's face. "He's attractive. I always knew you'd get a boyfriend before me." She sighed, flopping down on the bed next to him.

**Sorry I mentioned it ;) –Kurt.**

"Still no boy?" he asked, surprised, rolling onto his back.

"Nope. You know me, too fancy for the country boys and too fat for the jocks." She said with a sigh.

"Shut up. You're not fat. You're just five feet tall." Kurt said protectively. "Besides, you have like the biggest boobs ever. Those have to weigh like a ton." He said, making her laugh.

"You are both gay and my cousin. You are the last person who is supposed to be noticing my boobs!" She said, swatting at his side.

**You better plan on a full apology ;) –Blaine.**

"Well excuse me, if I'm going to pick out your clothes, I have to have a thorough understanding of your body type." Kurt said smartly.

"Is that the line you used on Blaine?" She asked, making him laugh.

"Actually, no, I cried over a dead canary." He said, causing her to sit up and look at him as though he had lost his mind.

"I'm not kidding." He said, laughing. "Blaine decided he liked me after watching me sing about the dead bird I was supposed to be taking care of." Annie shook her head, laughing and turning herself around so that she was lying on her stomach next to Kurt, her head propped up on her crossed arms and her face looking into Kurt's.

**Which would help resolve the problem how? -Kurt.**

"I want to hear the whole story." She said, laughing. "I'm beginning to wonder about this guy."

"The whole story or just the part about Pavarotti?" Kurt asked with a grin.

**Put my mind on other matters. –Blaine**

"Oh, all of it. I'm that curious." Annie said with a giggle.

"Well, it's a long story… hopefully we can get through it before Dad wants to head out.

"But I was having a bad time with a bully one time, which coincided with another member of my glee club suggesting I go spy on Dalton, this all-boys prep school that we would be competing against at sectionals. So I looked up their school online, mocked their uniform and went up there to do some spying.

"So I get to this school and it turns out basically be a castle, and I was completely lost and didn't know what to do. So I see this cute guy holding a pocket watch and tap him on the shoulder and ask him for help."

"Wait, is he Blaine?" Annie asked, smiling. Kurt nodded. "And he takes my hand and leads me down this hallway where they're about to perform and then gets up and it turns out they're an acapella choir and he's their lead singer." Kurt said. Annie gasped, clearly jealous.

"So after they sang I sat down with a few of them, including Blaine. They had clearly known I was a spy, but they thought that there must be a reason for me to spy. So I ended up talking to Blaine about being gay and the trouble I was having at school. And he told me about how he had come to Dalton because of it, but I should fight if I could. And he asked my number and started sending me texts that said 'Courage,' and we'd text a lot. But then I let the texts get to my head, and I decided to stand up to the guy who was giving me the most trouble… but when I did…" he trailed off, sighing.

"Go ahead and tell me." Annie said. "I'll keep mum."

"He kissed me. It was horrible. I was terrified." Kurt said. Annie gasped and reached over and took one of Kurt's hands in hers.

"Oh, Bugsy!" She said, using the nickname she had given him when they were children and giving his hand a squeeze. Kurt gave her a small smile.

"So I told Blaine, and he came. And he tried to talk to this guy… Karofsky. But then Karofsky tried to push Blaine, and I about lost it. So Blaine took me out for lunch. I stayed at McKinley a while longer, and they expelled him, but then they let him back in. So I ended up transferring to Dalton. I felt horrible because I was using Dad and Carole's honeymoon money to go to the school, but I just couldn't stay there."

"Of course." Annie said.

"So Blaine had me join the Warblers, their choir. And we started getting coffee after school on a regular basis and spending a lot of time together. We just… flirted all the time. And then we went home for Christmas and came back and we were just the best of friends. He started meeting my friends from New Directions…"

"That's your show choir, right?" Annie interrupted.

"Right. And it just got really cozy. But then around Valentine's Day he asked for my advice on asking a guy out, and whether a song would be over the top… and it turned out to be for another guy." Annie frowned.

"You're joking." She said. Kurt shook his head.

"I was so confused. I thought we could be something, and he decided to have the entire choir help him stage a performance at The Gap where this guy worked. But he got shot down, and I ended up telling him that I had expected to be the one he asked out. And he told me that he cared about me, that he was clueless, and that he didn't want to mess things up because he wasn't good with romance. So we kept being friends."

"That sounds like a stalemate." Annie said softly. "How'd you two break it?"

"I told you, I cried over a dead bird." Kurt said, making Annie laugh. "I was supposed to take care of this bird as part of my initiation to the Warblers. They named him Pavarotti. I got used to having him around, he was fun. I made up stories about him and bought him fabulous things. And he died, so I decided to come into Warbler practice in all black instead of my uniform and I sang 'Blackbird'."

"You didn't." Annie said, giggling.

"Oh, yes I did. And I don't know what type of morbid person my boyfriend is, but he says that's what changed it for him. Being the fabulous bitch I am, I had been annoyed with him getting all the solos and told him." Annie laughed. "So he went against the Warblers and asked to change one of our regionals numbers to a duet."

"Oh?"

"And after some ridiculous discussion, they let him. But instead of putting it up for audition like normal protocol, he said I'd sing it with him. And the whole council voted it up unanimously."

"Shut up!" Annie exclaimed, grinning so much she showed her gums. Kurt smiled proudly.

"So he walks in on me decorating Pavarotti's casket one day and tells me that he's picked out this super romantic duet for us to sing. So I just ask him. And he tells me that I moved him by singing in front of the council like that, and he realized that he had been looking for me forever, and that he wanted to spend more time with me. And he kissed me." Kurt finished with a blush and a little inward bounce. Annie clapped her hands together and placed her chin on her linked fingers.

"Adorable. I like him already." She said.

"Just wait until you meet him." Kurt said with a little smile. Annie smiled even more.

"You're head over heels, aren't you?" She asked, and Kurt nodded. He liked being able to gush over Blaine again. Now that she was here, he was more than excited for them to meet.

Kurt heard heavy steps, and looked up at the door as his dad arrived in the doorway, his eyes falling on where they lay on the bed and smiling.

"You kids ready to go eat?" Burt asked. Kurt looked over at Annie.

"I'd say Annie needs to freshen up from the flight, but somehow she's managed to come off flawless."

"Yeah, I'm ready Uncle Burt." Annie said, sitting up. Burt smiled.

"Good. Hop in the car and we'll figure out where we're going." He said, and they headed out.

Kurt walked into his room at midnight after wishing his cousin goodnight and leaving the guest room. They had been in there for two hours chatting, catching up on each other. Kurt couldn't help but be impressed with how Annie could be gone from his life for so long and come back into it so seamlessly. Their mothers were sisters, and had been the best of friends with near-identical habits. Annie reflected his mother's phrasing, her style and her sophistication. She had only been at his house for a few hours, but Kurt felt like there had never been a gap between them. Happily, Kurt lay down on the bed and pulled out his phone.

**Still awake? –Kurt.**

**Yep. Reading. –Blaine.**

**Can I call? –Kurt.**

**Of course you can. –Blaine**

Kurt hit the call button and held the phone up to his ear, listening as it only let out half a ring before Blaine answered the phone.

"Hey." Blaine said, his voice soft.

"Hey." Kurt answered, equally soft, closing his eyes.

"So how're things with Annie?" Blaine asked, and Kurt could hear him shutting a book. He liked the realization that he could now picture Blaine's room and what he was doing. It made Blaine seem a lot closer, instead of being in some foreign land called Marion where parents were homophobes and sisters were angelic.

"Absolutely wonderful." Kurt said quickly. "I can't wait for you to meet her, she's exactly like I remember. We had so much fun today, I've missed her so much."

"So you're feeling less selfish, I take it?" Blaine asked, a hint of a tease coming through his voice.

"Much less selfish. Though I miss you, too. Luckily I haven't had to go three years without seeing you."

"Perish the thought." Blaine said, and Kurt could almost see how he was smiling, that sweet smile with his eyes slightly crinkled. "Mmm, I really want to stay on the phone with you, but I'm really tired from taking Jessie to the pool this afternoon."

"I told you you'd be too tired to stay up to talk to me." Kurt teased lightly, smiling.

"I'm never too sleepy for you. I'm just thinking of that old adage about how sleep makes the next day come quicker." Blaine said, his words disproven by a light yawn, which Kurt returned.

"That's not an adage, Blaine, that's common sense." Kurt said, standing up and making his way to his dresser to find his pajamas.

"Whatever, the sooner I go to sleep, the sooner I get to see you and meet this lovely cousin Annie of yours."

"Sounds like a plan." Kurt said, pulling out his pajamas and yawning again. "Goodnight, Blaine."

"Sweet dreams, Kurt." Blaine said, hanging up the phone and making Kurt smile at how such trivial words sounded so sincere coming from Blaine.

"So Rachel has two dads, right?" Annie asked, peering around a bush to where the Berry household loomed in front of them.

"Right. With me and Blaine in there, it's basically the gayest place in Ohio." Kurt said with a wink. Annie rolled her eyes.

"So we're meeting this boyfriend of yours out here before we go in?" She asked, refraining from rolling her eyes at Kurt's unnecessarily complicated plan for something that really didn't need any planning. Kurt nodded without looking up from his phone.

"He should be pulling up here any minute." He said, peeking his head up. Sure enough, three minutes later Annie saw a blue BMW pull up behind them, and through the rearview mirror Annie could see the dark haired boy from the picture Kurt had shown her smiling up toward the car. His smile was enchanting, she couldn't help but realize, and she found herself smiling back even while knowing the smile wasn't for her.

Kurt, however, clearly knew the smile was for him and climbed out the car hastily, walking back to the boy. He got out of the car and kissed Kurt hello over the door, smiling at Kurt as Annie's cousin talked animatedly. Slowly, she climbed out of Kurt's Escalade and walked around the back to where the two boys were standing, now holding coffees.

"And this," Kurt said with a smile upon Annie's reappearance, "is the marvelous Anna Elisa." He said. The boy turned his smile in Annie's direction and she couldn't help but reciprocate again.

"I'm Blaine, Kurt's boyfriend." The boy said, reaching his hand out for her to shake. Annie took it.

"Annie. It's so nice to meet you. Kurt's told me a lot about you." She said with a smile. Blaine pretended to wince.

"Tell me you haven't." He said to Kurt. Kurt rolled his eyes, his face the brightest Annie could remember.

"Of course I have." He said proudly.

"Well, I've heard a lot about you, too, Annie." Blaine said kindly. He was completely taken aback by the resemblance between his boyfriend and the girl before him. Their body types were entirely different, but their coloring and cleanly carved features were nearly identical. As he saw the girl smile he noticed that the only noticeable difference was that her lips were considerably smaller than Kurt's, giving a pretty effect but not one that Blaine was willing to trade for. "I hear you're a lit person?"

"That I am." Annie said with a nod.

"Good, because maybe you can save this musical from if I write it myself." Blaine said with a wink. "Here," he said, picking up the coffee cup he had set down on the roof of the car behind him. "Kurt told me you're a mocha person. Since he basically lives off the stuff, I didn't challenge his opinion."

"Oh, you didn't have to!" Annie said happily, taking the coffee and grinning.

"Don't fight him on it, Annie. Even before we started dating he wouldn't let me pay for my coffee." Kurt said with a smirk.

"He was spending time with me, I thought he needed compensation." Blaine joked in Annie's direction. She liked him more by the second, and it wasn't just the coffee speaking. She couldn't _not_ like him after seeing how he made Kurt smile.

"Hello! Are you going to stand out there all day or are we going to start working on this play?" Came a voice from the door, making Annie jump and slosh a little coffee on her hand. Kurt and Blaine just looked up at the door, which Annie turned toward to see Rachel Berry standing in. She hadn't seen Rachel in years, but she was still unmistakable, especially in that red beret and pigtails.

"Coming, Rachel." The boys chanted, gesturing for Annie to come with them to the door.

Kurt watched as Rachel took in the sight of his cousin. He hadn't bothered to warn Rachel of Annie's presence, but he was a little afraid now that it was a faux pas on his part. But quickly the confused look on Rachel's face passed and she smiled.

"Annie! I almost didn't recognize you, the last time I saw you your hair was up to your chin!" Rachel said, reaching out her hands for Annie's free hand. Annie grasped Rachel's hands delicately.

"And last time I saw you, you were in a dance costume at school." Annie said with a smile. "Kurt didn't warn you I was coming? I'm living with them this summer, so he brought me along."

"She's going to help me write this, because trust me, you're going to be glad she's helping." Blaine cut in. Rachel smiled up at him.

"Well that works, I've starred in an Annie Shriver production before, actually." Rachel said, gesturing for them to come inside. Blaine looked at her, confused, and she smiled as she explained. "Annie wrote a play that our fifth grade class performed about the Greek goddess Artemis."

"Yes, and Rachel demanded the part of Artemis, saying that only she was fit to play such a classical feminist role." Annie added, making Kurt and Blaine laugh. Rachel merely shrugged, gesturing them all to sit around the coffee table again.

"Mercedes isn't going to be here until later, she said she was having lunch with her dad." Rachel said, pulling the notebooks out from under the table. Kurt and Blaine exchanged knowing glances. "Annie, we're making color-coded notebooks. I have some more in my room, I'll go get you one. Lavender?" Rachel asked, standing up.

"She can just use mine, Rachel. I don't mind." Blaine said, but Rachel tsked.

"She'll have her own notebook. I'll go get it." Rachel said, running off. Annie looked at Kurt and Blaine, who, as she expected, looked unfazed.

"I see she hasn't changed at all." Annie said, crossing her legs. Blaine laughed, but Kurt merely shook his head.

Rachel returned with a lavender notebook for Annie, having written her name on it and dotted the I with a gold start sticker. Annie took the matching lavender pen and copying what Kurt's said.

"So, Blaine, what do you have for us?" Rachel asked expectantly. Blaine sighed.

"Well, I'm working with characters and plots so far. I have the story tied together by Rumpelstiltskin, and so far in terms of princesses I have Cinderella and Beauty. But I'd like to make a connection between princesses, and I'd like to have more." Blaine said, flicking his pen.

"What do you mean, a connection?" Rachel asked, confused.

"Like, a relation or something. So there's a reason for them to interact."

"What about Snow White and Rose Red?" Annie asked, looking over the table at Blaine.

"Isn't that a horror movie?" He asked, causing Kurt and Annie to giggle.

"Snow White and Rose Red, Blaine." Kurt said, turning to him. "You know, the opposite sisters."

"All I know about Snow White is the dwarves." Blaine said, grimacing.

"Which we could totally cast some of the guys from the Warblers as." Kurt said devilishly. "But Snow White and Rose Red were sisters. Snow White was pale and sweet and girlie, while Rose Red was darker skinned and feisty. And they make friends with a bear and defeat a dwarf and restore the bear to his proper state as a prince, and he marries Snow White and his brother marries Rose Red and it's all wonderful." Kurt said. Blaine clearly didn't follow.

"I'll look it up tonight." He said, writing the names down under the characters.

"They could defeat Rumpelstiltskin instead of a dwarf," Annie put in. "That would establish why Rumpelstiltskin was in the story. He could be causing trouble for all the different groups."

"Genius!" Kurt exclaimed. "He can have bewitched the beast, too. I still want an evil stepmother, though, especially for Cinderella."

"Maybe they're having an affair?" Blaine joked, and all four of them started laughing.

"I like it." Rachel said. "Let's keep this up."

An hour later the door opened and Mercedes walked in. She took her notebook from the middle of the table and sat down, her mind elsewhere, before noticing Annie on the other side of the table.

"Oh, hi." Mercedes said, giving her a little smile, looking at the boys for an introduction.

"I'm Annie Shriver, Kurt's cousin." Annie said, reaching her hand across the table. Mercedes shook it with a small smile.

"Mercedes Jones, Kurt's Bee-Eff-Eff." Mercedes said brightly.

"How was lunch with your _dad_, Mercedes? Kurt asked, not looking up from his notebook.

"It was _great_, Kurt." Mercedes said a little forcefully. Blaine smiled. "So when do I find out who I'm directing for this thing?"

"We'll cast as soon as Blaine and Annie have it mostly written." Rachel said.

"How are we going to do the casting?" Annie asked. Everyone paused.

"I don't care, but I want to be Snow White." Kurt said, breaking their thoughts. Blaine turned to Kurt, raising an eyebrow. "If we're in charge of this play, I say we get to play with the gender and sexuality of the characters. Besides, where else are you going to get skin as pale as snow?" Kurt asked him. Blaine started to lean over toward Annie, but she put her hands up.

"Don't look at me, I want to be Belle." Annie said, smiling.

"It's Beauty, not Belle. It's only Belle in the movie." Rachel corrected.

"Well saying I want to be Beauty sounds highly pretentious." Annie said.

"What if we did it with an audition panel? But, like, we're Mr. Schue: the four of us make the last choice." Mercedes put in.

"If you're modeling this after Jesse St. Jackass's attempt to make us worship Rachel…"

"That's _not_ what he was doing, Kurt!" Rachel said, slamming her pen down.

"I'm not, I just think something like it would work for this. Say we put three people on the panel, and we make them people who aren't biased."

"Like who?" Kurt said skeptically.

"Mr. Schue, for one." Mercedes said. "And maybe Coach Sylvester, and someone else."

"What about your football coach?" Blaine asked. "She seems like a nice lady, and Finn was telling me that she's a pretty fair person."

"Coach Beiste would totally do it." Mercedes agreed.

"Fine. But we do get the last say." Kurt said.

"So it's decided. I'll make the calls tonight." Rachel said, her hand looping along across her notebook.

"So, this is Breadstix." Kurt said as they walked into the door a few hours later. Annie looked around, taking it in.

"We basically live here. Mercedes said with a smile, heading to their usual booth. Annie broke the usual girl-boy split by sitting next to Kurt, opening the menu.

"Is there a reason I'm the only one looking?" She asked, looking up and scanning her eyes around.

"Memorized." The other four said at once, smiling at each other.

"Sheesh." Annie murmured, looking back down at the menu.

"So, Annie, you play the guitar?" Blaine asked, leaning around Kurt to talk to her. Annie nodded, smiling at him.

"Not fabulously, but I play. Gives me better control of the song as a whole when I sing."

"Well I can help you brush up if you want. A couple guys in New Directions play I think, but I'm the only one out of this crowd. It'll be nice to have another guitar player around." Blaine said.

"Blaine gets terribly offended that the rest of us have no idea what he's talking about most of the time." Mercedes said with a smirk. Rachel's mouth fell open.

"I do!" She said, glaring at Mercedes.

"Okay, Rachel does. But that's because she's crazy." Mercedes corrected.

"Don't you have a guitar, Rachel?" Kurt asked.

"I do. I don't know how to play it, though. My dads bought it for me to see if I took to it, but I was in a very strong dance phase at the time." Rachel said.

A waitress came along and took their orders, Annie going last since she was the only one who didn't know what she wanted.

"Don't you usually get the spaghetti?" Kurt asked Mercedes after the waitress retreated.

"I had it for lunch." She said, looking down at her menu.

"Your dad took you to lunch at Breadstix?" Rachel asked, surprised.

"We just wanted something quick and easy," Mercedes lied. "I didn't realize we were doing group dinner tonight."

"Well that's because we have a new addition." Kurt said brightly, gesturing to his cousin. Annie blushed.

"I'm so glad I came here instead of Arizona." She said, tossing one of her light brown curls over her shoulder. "I wouldn't have a single person to talk to."

"And now you're going to get the full treatment." Mercedes said with a smile. "This glee club is tight. You're going to have a big family in Lima Ohio before you leave."

"I still haven't met all of my family in Lima, actually." Annie said, stopping to thank the waitress as she arrived and started passing out their drinks. "I haven't met Carole and Finn." She clarified.

"Yeah, Finn will be back tomorrow, though. I can't wait. I wonder if he has some dashing bruise or black eye or something." Rachel said, taking a sip of her water. Annie looked at her, confusion written across her face.

"They're dating." Kurt clarified. He didn't risk stating his opinion on the matter, especially with the way Rachel smiled when he said it.

"Really?" Annie said, leaning diagonally toward Rachel. "How long have you been together?"

"This time just over a week. But we dated for a few months last year." Rachel said. Annie nodded, turning to Kurt and Blaine.

"What about you two?"

"About two-and-a-half months." Kurt said, fiddling with the straw in his soda.

"It'd be longer if I weren't an idiot." Blaine explained, making Kurt smile proudly.

"Anyone else in this club of yours dating?" Annie asked.

"Well we've basically all inter-dated." Rachel said, rolling her eyes. "Let's see, Noah is still with Lauren Zizes. Are Artie and Brittany still broken up?" She asked. Kurt shrugged.

"Artie has a girlfriend?" Annie asked brightly. Rachel nodded.

"Second one. He dated Tina earlier. Oh, she's still with Mike Chang."

"Right, I've barely seen her since they started dating." Mercedes said, rolling her eyes. "Kind of like with you." She said, glaring at Kurt.

"Hey, I transferred schools. You've had me since I've been back!" Kurt said, putting his hands up.

"Do you think Sam and Quinn will get back together?" Rachel asked quietly.

"No." Kurt, Blaine and Mercedes all said at once. Rachel looked confused.

"Do you guys know something I don't?" She asked. They all shook their heads and looked down at their drinks.

"Sounds like a lot of drama." Annie said.

"It is." Kurt clarified.

"Even Blaine tried dating Rachel." Mercedes said slyly.

"Let's not talk about that." He and Rachel said at once.

"I'm the only one without a previous tie-up." Kurt said proudly.

"Hold it, white boy, you were pretty attached to Brittany last year. At the mouth." Mercedes cut in.

"Really?" Blaine asked, looking at him.

"I freaked out when my dad and Finn started spending time together." Kurt said, a little quieter. Blaine gave a slow nod before kissing him on the cheek.

Their food arrived, interrupting their conversation and directing it to Rachel's veganism, including a regaling tale of Jesse St. James' egg shenanigans.

"So that was successful." Kurt said as he and Blaine drove away from Kurt's house after he dropped Annie off, told Burt where he was going and hopped into Blaine's car. Blaine nodded.

"She's fun, and smart. Plus she seems to get along with Rachel."

"They were the two most competitive friends you've ever seen when we were younger." Kurt said, taking out his breath mints and popping a few in his mouth.

"I think that's what Rachel needs, you know?" Blaine said. "Like you. Just another girl. Besides, the happier Rachel is, the easier this project is going to be."

"Well, if anyone's the girl version of me, it's Annie." Kurt said with a smile. "Here, take some. I got the fruity kind this time." He said, holding the canister up to Blaine. He stuck his palm out and Kurt shook a few mints onto it.

"Thanks." He said, putting them in his mouth. "So what do you want to do once we get to the park?" He asked, turning off onto the road leading to the town's largest park.

"Find a quiet place by the lake and cuddle?" Kurt asked quietly, looking up at Blaine through his lashes in that shy manner he adapted whenever he admitted wanting to do couple-y things. Blaine smiled and reached over for his hand.

They pulled into the park and Blaine drove over by the lake, parking just off the road. He went to his trunk and pulled out a blanket, spreading it out on the hillside.

"Why's that in here?" Kurt asked, coming up behind him. Blaine smiled.

"I was hoping cuddling was on the agenda." Blaine said, blushing. "I thought I'd take a note out of your book and be prepared."

"Note well taken." Kurt said, walking over to him and kissing him gently. Blaine kissed back excitedly, loving that he was able to finally kiss Kurt this way after two days apart and several hours of being in company.

It was the sex talking, Blaine told himself. He wasn't this codependent that he had to be physical like this with Kurt all the time, or that two days felt like a lifetime. It was the fact that the last time he and Kurt had been together had involved a lot of touching and… sucking. Sucking and licking. Licking and… Blaine had to stop there.

"Are you alright?" Kurt asked as Blaine stopped kissing him.

"Just… worked up." Blaine said, turning and sitting down on the blanket. Kurt sat, too, lower on the hill than Blaine so that he was looking up at him.

"Over what?" Kurt asked, resisting the urge to nervously pull his knees up under his chin.

"Am I crazy for missing you this much after just a couple days?" Blaine asked, biting his lip and at Kurt under worried, lowered eyebrows.

"Only if I'm crazy for missing you the same amount." Kurt said quietly, reaching both of his hands out for Blaine's. Blaine let him take them, and the touch helped.

"It's like… like we've jumped into this. And I'm okay with it, really. I love it. I love _you_." He said, emphasizing his feelings for Kurt. "But sometimes I step back and look at it all, and I realize just how deep I am, and it scares me. But it's the idea of it that scares me, not the actuality of it." Blaine rambled. Kurt nodded, though he wasn't sure he understood.

"Are you saying you want to step it back a little bit?" Kurt asked, trying not to get worked up or to jump to too many conclusions.

"No." Blaine said. "I'm fine where things are, I just need to get my bearings. Slow down, not step back." Blaine said, looking up at Kurt. Kurt nodded.

"Slowing down's okay." He said honestly. Really he hadn't expected to take the step he and Blaine had taken over the weekend for some time, so he was okay with slowing down for a while.

"Are you… are you cool with where things are? With what we've been doing?" Blaine asked. Kurt nodded again.

"I am. I like doing that stuff with you, Blaine." Kurt said, rubbing the insides of his boyfriend's palm. "Slowing down sounds like a good idea, though."

"But not stopping." Blaine clarified. Kurt smiled and nodded.

"Like hell I'd stop." Kurt said with a smile, moving to his hands and knees and kissing Blaine softly before turning so that he was sitting next to him. They lay down gently, beginning to fulfill their plan of cuddling.

"Thanks for letting me talk it out." Blaine said quietly, kissing the top of Kurt's head.

"Oh my goodness, we're going to be here for the sunset!" Kurt said, looking out in front of him. Blaine chuckled, his chest shaking beneath Kurt's head.

"Yes." He said gently.

"It's romantic." Kurt said, a soft catch to his voice that made Blaine's heart swell.

"Yeah, it is." Blaine said softly. Kurt turned his face up to Blaine's, smiling, and Blaine kissed him again gently.

**Author's Note: Hey, everyone. Once again, thanks for the reviews. I'm so glad so many people seem to be enjoying the story! I'm also glad that most of you seemed to get the AVPM reference (yes, to Lexie who left a comment, I did put it in on purpose, because even Darren needs some teasing from time to time). This chapter's a little Annie-heavy, but I felt like I had to flesh her out a little bit before I start tossing her around like any other character. Hope you enjoy!**


	11. Chapter 11: Seventeen

"Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!" Kurt groaned and rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head only to be pried off as his mattress bent under the weight of someone climbing on. Kurt groaned, turning his head toward the figure and opening his eyes to see Annie, already dressed, kneeling on his bed next to him.

"Happy birthday, Bugsy!" Annie said with a big smile, dropping her hands to her knees. Kurt dropped his scowl into a little smile as he rolled over and sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back on one hand.

"Mmm what time is it?" Kurt asked.

"Half past nine. Your step brother called, said he's going to be home in an hour." Kurt nodded. "And Rachel's coming over." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Okay. I'll be out in a few minutes." Kurt said, shooing her. She left with a smile as Kurt checked his phone. As expected, he had a text from Blaine.

**Happy birthday Kurt. Can't wait to see you 6. Have the best birthday ever. You deserve it. Love you a ton. Welcome to the 17+ club ;)-Blaine.**

**Love you too. See you tonight, can't wait. –Kurt. **

He smiled and slid his phone shut, climbing out of bed to get dressed. He chose a light blue oxford and another pair of tight jean capri-style shorts that went right to the top of his knee. Looking in the mirror, he decided to wear his hair down like he used to.

There he was. Kurt Hummel, freshly seventeen. Sure, he was the baby of the Glee club, but now he was back on par. Seventeen. With a boyfriend he was moderately sexually active with and loved, the satisfaction of having overcome his most dangerous bully, and a newfound confidence that others could shake but not shatter.

It was all a lot more than when he had stood here a year ago, wondering if he could pass his road test and be able to drive his Escalade to school without his Dad walking to and from the shop to ride with him as he drove.

And in another year he would formally be a man. Not a gay boy, a gay man. A gay man who would hopefully be going off to school in New York to pursue his dream.

What would his mother say if she were here? Kurt closed his eyes, remembering his mother as she had been before she had gotten sick. Her long, flowing light brown hair, her sparkling eyes and her perfume stood out to him. _Happy Birthday, Kurt. You're another year older, Mommy's little man…_ it was what she had said on his eighth birthday. There hadn't been flowing hair, then. Her eyes had done the best to smile, but Kurt knew even then that she was trying for him.

Birthdays were hard. If there's any day you should talk to your mother, it's the anniversary of the day she gave birth to you. But there's no point in talking if she's not there.

Kurt thought. His mom would be proud of him over the past year, he knew it. She'd like Blaine, another gentleman like her son. She'd be proud of him for coming back to McKinley. She probably would have gone after Karofsky herself, and Kurt almost laughed at the vision. She and Burt were two of a kind.

"Love you, Mommy." Kurt whispered, berating himself inside for being silly, but feeling better having said it out loud.

He finished getting ready and went out to the kitchen, making breakfast to eat with Annie. Digging into her waffle she scolded him for cooking on his birthday, but he rolled his eyes as she started going on about how good they tasted. He frowned when she stopped eating halfway through the waffle.

"I'm full. It was delicious." She said while patting her face with her napkin. "Here, let me do the dishes." She said, picking up her plate and walking to the dishwasher.

"You're not touching my waffle press. I know how stupid you are about kitchen stuff." Kurt said, still eating.

"Just tell me how to wash it, then?" She asked, picking up a washcloth from the sink.

"No. I'm going to do it." Kurt said, finishing his waffle and standing up.

"Control freak." Annie said, leaning back against the sink.

"Shouldn't you not be calling me names on my birthday?" Kurt asked, walking over.

"Shouldn't you not be cooking and cleaning on your birthday?" Annie retorted. Kurt ignored her and went about cleaning up his waffle press.

"So your stepmom's name is… Carole?" Annie asked. Kurt nodded.

"Carole. And she did take Dad's name, so she's a Hummel. And her son is Finn." Kurt explained. Annie nodded.

"What are they like?" She asked.

"They're nice. Carole's really sweet, and I think being with Dad has done a lot for her. Finn's the school quarterback and one of the captains of the glee club. He's kind of an idiot, but a nice guy. I actually had a crush on him like forever ago." Kurt admitted, looking down.

"Oh boy. That has to be awkward." Annie said. Kurt shrugged.

"We kind of got over the issue. We found out we had more important things to worry about than feelings I grew out of." Annie nodded.

They went back into the kitchen and watched TV until they heard the door to the garage open. Finn came into the living room first, carrying his pads in one hand and his bag in the other.

"Happy birthday, man. I'll be right back down." He said, nodding in Annie's direction before noticing Annie sitting beside him. "Oh," Finn said, looking unsure how to go about this. "You must be Kurt's cousin Annie, right?"

"Right." Annie said quietly with a small smile.

"I'm Finn, Kurt's stepbrother. I'll be right back down to do this right. Nice to meet you." He said, walking up the stairs as Carole entered the living room.

"Annie, nice to meet you! I'm Carole, Kurt's stepmother. Sorry I wasn't here to greet you when you got here!" She said.

"It's alright, Ma'am." Annie said, smiling. "It's very nice to meet you, thank you for letting me stay here this summer."

"No problem. You're related to Kurt, you're related to all of this. Go ahead and call me Carole. Kurt, happy birthday!" She said brightly.

"Thanks Carole." Kurt said.

"I'm going to go put this bag down. You wouldn't believe how exhausting those boys are. I'm completely worn out. I have to go pick up your cake later, too…" She said, her words trailing off as she started up the stairs as Finn bounded back down.

"Dude, you wouldn't believe what happened at camp Sunday." Finn said. Kurt raised his eyebrows, waiting for his stepbrother to go on. "Jake Remington got a concussion. He had one during the season, too, so he's out."

"How did the kicker get a concussion, Finn?" Kurt asked, confused. Finn shrugged.

"He was running contact drills and ended up getting hit. But that means that the position of kicker is open again. And you seem to be over your conflict with Karofsky, and even if you weren't I'm a captain now so I can go to Coach Beiste about anything, and she wants you back on the team, too."

"You played football?" Annie asked, looking at Kurt with a confused expression. Kurt nodded, still looking at Finn.

"There's no way. Not after what happened at prom. I'm not putting myself in a bad situation."

"What happened at prom?" Annie asked. Kurt ignored her.

"Dude, Coach Beiste will kick anyone off who starts trouble. You know she will. We need you to play."

"I'm sorry, Finn. It's not happening." Kurt said, turning his attention back to the television.

"Hi." Finn said, turning his attention back to Annie. "Like I said, I'm Kurt's stepbrother Finn."

"Nice to meet you, Finn. I'm Annie." She said, shaking his hand.

Finn's phone went off and he checked it quickly.

"Rachel?" Kurt asked slyly, but Finn shook his head, seeming to lose interest in the message.

"Hey Mom?" He called. Carole reappeared in the hallway.

"What?"

"Sam just texted me. Can I stay over at his house Saturday?"

"Yeah, sure." Carole said, waving her hand and walking back to her room.

"Sam?" Kurt asked, surprised. Finn shrugged.

"Puck's gonna be there, too."

"Which makes it completely more normal, seeing as what's happened between you two." Kurt said. Finn sat down in Burt's chair.

"We're trying to get over that. Neither of us is with Quinn right now, so it's not like it matters." Finn said, putting his phone back in his pocket.

"Except for the part about making out with Rachel." Kurt said, looking over Annie at his stepbrother.

"Wait, Rachel cheated on you? That doesn't sound like her at all." Annie said.

"It was a reaction to something I had done. And I'm just trying to move on. I'm just going to set the drama aside, go back to how things were, and if it happens again I'm done with it." Finn said solidly.

"Whatever you say." Kurt said, crossing his arms. Just then, the door knocked.

"That'll be Rachel." Finn said, standing up to get the door. He paused with the door open for a while before leading Rachel inside, holding her hand. Rachel skipped ahead of him when she saw Kurt sitting on the sofa.

"Happy birthday!" She said, dropping Finn's hand and going over to give Kurt a hug. "Since Blaine has you tomorrow night, Mercedes and I want to have a sleepover Saturday. You can come too, Annie." Rachel said, acknowledging Annie for the first time since entering the room.

"Great!" Kurt said. "Your place?" Rachel nodded. "You'll have to come, Annie, we have the greatest sleepovers."

"Okay." Annie said quietly. "Sounds like a plan."

The four sat around watching television until noon, when they made a couple of frozen pizzas and Rachel ate a salad. Kurt had offered to make something else, but they all shut him down from cooking. They spent the afternoon filling Finn in on the concept of the musical, which he seemed less than enthusiastic about.

"You mean the only guy parts are to be, like, princes and things?" He asked, scratching his head. Kurt nodded.

"Well, there's a bear, but I think that's going to be Blaine, so yeah."

"Why would Blaine be a bear?" He asked, confused.

"Because the bear turns into a prince and marries Snow White."

"Which is the part Kurt wants." Annie explained.

"Got it." Finn said.

"Blaine might bring the script when he comes over for dinner." Kurt said, checking his phone. It was just after four-thirty, he knew he was going to be getting a text from Blaine saying he had left soon.

"So he's taking you out tomorrow?" Finn asked. Kurt nodded.

"He's taking me to Della Sorella and then the botanical gardens." Kurt said proudly, sitting up straighter in his chair. Rachel's mouth fell open and she looked at Finn begrudgingly.

Finn gave a falling whistle, raising his eyebrows. "That's a lot of cash, man." Kurt shrugged, blushing.

"I wonder what he got you for your birthday." Annie mused. "You know he bought you something, too."

"Let's… not talk about it." Kurt said, blushing more. He was curious, too, but he didn't want to speculate. Blaine was _Blaine_: the least superficial aspect of his life. Everything Blaine did for him was extra..

"Kids, I'm going to go pick up Kurt's cake." Carole's voice carried as she walked into the living room. "Burt's going to be home soon, and Blaine should be on his way in no time. Oh, hi, Rachel, good to see you dear." She said, waving to Rachel before continuing on her way out of the house.

"Your mom okay?" Kurt asked Finn.

"She's tired. We had a pretty rowdy week. She didn't get much sleep." Finn said. Kurt raised an eyebrow. "The first night we were there a couple guys stole all her clothes, so spent most of the week finding them in weird places."

"That's horrible." Kurt said. Finn nodded as Kurt's phone went off.

**On my way Mr. Birthday. See you in just around an hour if I drive fast enough ;) –Blaine.**

**Be careful, dummy. –Kurt.**

"He's on his way." Kurt said with a smile.

"I better go, then." Rachel said, standing up. "I know it's an hour from Marion, but I'm sure you have something or other to get ready before he gets here. Happy birthday again, Kurt. Annie, see you tomorrow. Finn, call me tonight." She said, giving Finn an awkward kiss on the cheek and leaving.

"Yupp, totally back to normal." Kurt said after the door shut. Finn scowled.

"Sorry I don't know how to act with a girlfriend who I dated for months and now have been dating for days." Finn said.

"Did you at least tell her you missed her while you were at camp?" Annie asked, and Finn looked at her, surprised. "She's in your choir and all that, so you're used to being around her so it's not like it'd be weird for you to miss her." Kurt considered her words, nodding.

"Well, I, err… I told her I was glad to see her." Finn said, scratching the back of his head. Kurt sunk his face into the palm of his hand.

"Finn, this is Rachel, remember? She's not going to put up with your shit just for the title of your girlfriend like Quinn did." Kurt said.

"Which is why I'm back with her!" Finn said, a little angrily. "I'm just bad at this stuff. I'm gonna play Call of Duty, I'll come back down closer to dinner." Finn said, going upstairs in a huff.

"It's not going to work." Kurt said quietly when he heard Finn's door shut.

"Not exactly the type of guy I would expect to be dating Rachel." Annie said.

"He's really impressed with how genuine she is. His ex-girlfriend is a lying, conniving teen queen. Plus, Rachel has talent that goes past high school, where Quinn's greatest talent is cheerleading." Kurt explained.

"No, I mean… him. He seems really… average. That's never exactly been Rachel's style with anything, has it?" Annie said, hushing her voice. Kurt shrugged.

"He's the quarterback and other glee captain. Really, in Lima, that's as good as it's going to get."

"Which is why you looked elsewhere." Annie said with a smirk.

"I didn't look, I stumbled." Kurt said with a laugh. It was a surprisingly good metaphor, he decided. He stumbled, and fell…

"I don't see how everyone just stumbles into things. I can never seem to manage." Annie mused.

"It's not about managing, it's about not expecting it." Kurt said.

"I'm sorry, is the atheist talking about fate?" Annie asked, cocking her head. Kurt shrugged.

"Blaine came into my life right when I needed him the most. I'm not saying I didn't try for him once he was there, but I didn't try to pull him into my life to start with." Kurt said, frowning at his inarticulate words.

"You're not making any sense." Annie advised.

"I know." Kurt said, his ears perking up as the door to the garage opened and he heard his father's heavy footsteps.

"Happy birthday, kiddo." Burt said, entering the living room. Kurt smiled up at his dad. "Your stepmom go get your cake yet?"

"She left just a few minutes ago." Annie answered. Burt nodded.

"Dad, Rachel invited me and Annie to a slumber party at her house Saturday." Kurt said.

"You kids have been having a lot of slumber parties lately." Burt said, and Kurt tried not to blush.

"Well, it's summer…"

"Yeah, you two do that for Saturday. So you know Rachel, Annie? Between Kurt and Finn she's kind of a constant presence." Burt said with a smile.

"Yeah, we were in the same class a lot as kids." Annie said with a smile. Burt nodded.

"And Blaine's on his way, I take it?" Kurt nodded and Burt headed up the stairs to his room. "You're gonna let me have some cake, right kid?" Burt asked jovially. Kurt grinned.

"Maybe a little piece. You've done pretty well lately." Kurt called. Annie smiled.

"Yeah, has he been alright? We were pretty worried." Annie said. Kurt nodded.

"He gave me a scare." He said with an empty laugh. "But I've been pretty harsh with him, so he's done well."

"I know this is a bad day to bring it up, but it's still weird to be here without Aunt Elizabeth." Annie said quietly. Kurt sighed.

"It's okay, I've already been thinking about her today." Kurt said. "Can I tell you something stupid?" He asked, turning to her.

"Don't you always?" Annie said softly. Kurt smiled.

"You know how she used to say that my middle name should be Elizabeth since I was just like her? I tell people that's my middle name sometimes." Kurt said, blushing and looking down. Annie giggled silently, looking over at Kurt kindly.

"But your middle name is Nathaniel." Annie chided. Kurt shrugged.

"No one questions it. I guess they think it's fitting that the gay kid would have a girl's middle name."

"You're crazy, Kurt Hummel. But your secret's safe with me. I won't go around calling you Kurt Nathaniel if you don't want me to." Annie said with a smile. Kurt gave her hands a squeeze.

"Good, I don't want my cover blown." Kurt said with a grin.

They went back to watching television, but Kurt's mind was still on his mother. This is how birthdays usually were for him, a mixture of happy and sad. Carole got back with the cake, but wouldn't let Kurt see it or help fix dinner. He was even threatened with a spatula at one point, so he decided to steer clear.

Just as Carole was putting the finishing touches on the chicken, Kurt heard a rap on the door. Bouncing up, he went and opened it to see his smiling boyfriend standing in the doorway with three small, wrapped present boxes stacked on top of each other and tied with a ribbon.

"Hi." He said, a big smile plastered on his face.

"Happy birthday." Blaine said softly, stepping up into the doorway and kissing Kurt softly. Kurt took Blaine's free hand and led him into the house. Burt was standing in the living room and smiled when he saw the boys.

"Good to see you, Blaine. Here, let me take those." He said, taking yellow paper-bound presents in their dark blue ribbon and carrying them into the dining room.

"Hi, Annie." Blaine said with a smile as Kurt led him into the living room. Annie scooted over to make room for the boys, and Blaine ended up sitting next to her with Kurt perched on the armrest.

"Hi, Blaine. How's your day?" Annie asked, cocking her head up sideways.

"Eh. Marion's all the same. It's when I get away to Lima that I can enjoy myself." Blaine said with a wink. Annie giggled.

"How's Jessie?" Kurt asked, putting a hand in Blaine's hair and playing with his curls.

"She's great. Oh, she said to tell you happy birthday." Blaine said, looking up at Kurt. Kurt beamed, bopping up and down.

"I passed the little sister test." Kurt informed Annie, and she nodded.

"What about the parent test?" Annie asked with a smirk. She instantly regretted it when she saw Blaine's face fall.

"Blaine's parents…" Kurt began.

"Are assholes." Blaine finished, turning back to Annie, trying to look as self-assured as he could with his boyfriend's hand on top of his head.

"_Oh._" Annie mouthed, tucking in her lips. Blaine shrugged.

"The little sister test is the important one anyway. I'd hate to see the result if Kurt had failed." Blaine said with a smirk. Kurt tugged Blaine's hair and the older boy swatted at him.

"Boys, Annie, Burt, dinner!" Carole called from the dining room, and Kurt sprung up, grabbing Blaine by the hands and pulling him up with him. Blaine laughed as he nearly toppled on top of Kurt as Annie stood up gracefully, laughing at the boys. Finn came down the stairs and greeted Blaine warmly with a thud on the back, and the ensuing recap of football camp became the first topic at dinner. Luckily for Kurt, Finn didn't press the issue of his rejoining the team.

The topic moved fluidly as they ate, and finally they put aside the food and moved to the living room. Kurt and Blaine sat on the sofa while Carole and Annie cleared the table and Finn joined Burt for his after dinner walk.

"So do you feel any older?" Blaine asked, putting his arm around his boyfriend. Kurt shrugged.

"From the birthday or from what we've been doing lately?" Kurt asked, stretching his neck out. Blaine snickered.

"Your call." He said, pressing a kiss to the base of Kurt's neck. "I like this outfit on you, it makes you _look_ older." He said, running a finger down the lapel and making Kurt take deeper breaths.

"Why on earth would you want me to look older?" Kurt asked, turning toward Blaine. The older boy leaned back over the armrest and peered around the corner toward the dining room to see that Carole and Annie were still busy before looking back at Kurt mischievously.

"Helps remind me you're not as innocent as you look." He said, his voice low as he sat back up and kissed Kurt hard on the mouth. Kurt moaned quietly into Blaine's mouth, sliding his arms around Blaine and kissing back, his mouth opening and Blaine's tongue sliding in. Blaine braced Kurt's back and kissed him harder, nibbling slightly at his lower lip. It took all of Kurt's focus to remember where he was and not climb onto his boyfriend's lap.

"So that's two." Blaine said quietly as he broke the kiss. Kurt cocked his head sideways, confused.

"You get seventeen birthday kisses." Blaine said, trying to repress his grin as he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against Kurt's lips. "Three." He kissed Kurt for longer this time, his fingers grasping Kurt's back. "Four."

"Time out." Annie said, and the boys jumped apart as Annie stood in the doorway from the foyer, giggling.

"Uh, time for cake?" Kurt asked, a guilty smile on his face.

"You're acting like I've never seen boys kissing before." Annie said, coming in and sitting on the armrest of Burt's chair. "Finn and Uncle Burt are still walking. Which is probably lucky for you." She said, nodding her head at Blaine.

"So I'm not the only one who gets that protective vibe from him." Blaine said, scratching his head. Annie shook her head.

"He gets that way about me, too. In third grade he was chaperoning a field trip and he caught Noah Puckerman chasing me around trying to kiss me and flipped out and called Noah's mother that night." Annie said, and Kurt laughed.

"Well, Puck hasn't changed." He said.

"Is that who Finn was talking about earlier?" Annie asked. Kurt nodded.

"He's in the glee club."

"You've got to be kidding." Annie said, rolling her eyes. Kurt shrugged.

"He's not bad. And he'll probably end up doing the musical with us, actually." He said, working his hand over and linking his fingers with Blaine's.

"_Fantastic_." Annie said before remembering that was their title, making all three of them laugh.

"Finn and Burt are on their way up the yard." Carole said, appearing in the doorway. "I have everything set up for cake if you all would like to get seated."

They followed her into the dining room, where Kurt retook his seat at the head of the table with Blaine at his right and Annie at his left. The front door opened and Burt and Finn came into the room, taking their seats as Carole carried the cake box to where Kurt was sitting, opening it to reveal a beautifully designed cake done in lavender and a grey lace design with grey writing, reading "Happy Birthday, Kurt."

"It's gorgeous!" Kurt exclaimed as she tore down the sides of the box. Carole smiled and nodded at Blaine.

"Blaine went and picked it out last week, and I sent the payment. I knew he'd know best." She said, and Kurt looked over to see Blaine gloating.

"You're kidding." He said, but Blaine shook his head.

"You showed me some of your sketches last week, and I based it off that." Blaine said with a shrug. Kurt laughed.

"I haven't had a Cinderella cake since I was four." He said, scrunching his face. Blaine and Annie laughed.

Carole started sticking candles into the cake and Kurt blinked. He didn't realize how, but he had forgotten about this part. A wish? He remembered standing at this table a year ago. With a quick flick of his eyes over to Blaine, his unwhispered words came back to him. _I wish that next year I'll have a boyfriend to celebrate my birthday with._ Glancing around the table, he had so much more. He had an entire family to celebrate his birthday with, not just his dad and the memory of his mother. And he had Blaine. How many teenage boys actually had their birthday wishes come true in such a wonderful way?

And how do you go about coming up with a wish when the thing you've been spending your birthday wish on since you were a preteen comes true?

Carole started lighting the candles, and as she finished, Kurt knew what he was going to wish. He smiled as those assembled sang Happy Birthday to him, Blaine playing it up a little to make him giggle. When they stopped Kurt took a deep breath and used all of his breath control from New Directions practice to blow the candles out. His breath faltered on the last one, but the candle quickly snuffed. Kurt looked up, confused, to see Blaine wink at him. Kurt couldn't help but blush the tiniest bit.

Carole cut the cake and they ate, Kurt insisting that Burt get one half the size of a normal slice. Somehow the topic came up of when was the last time Annie was there to celebrate Kurt's birthday.

"It was my twelfth birthday." Kurt said, flipping his fork over as he spoke. "Just after sixth grade."

"That summer was so awful." Annie said, thinking back. "If I ever have kids, I'm making sure never to move in the summer. There's nothing more lonely than moving somewhere and having no way to meet new people."

"Not to mention my favorite cousin was leaving me!" Kurt said. Annie laughed. Burt was an only child and Kurt and Annie's aunt Jane was a lesbian, so Annie was his only cousin.

"Well, we didn't know it was happening at your birthday." Annie said. Burt shook his head.

"We adults did. Just not you kids. Annie, your mom just couldn't stand Lima with Elizabeth gone, especially after she got offered the job in Champaign."

"Yeah." Annie said, nodding.

"Do you remember what you wished for that year, Kurt? I remember for my twelfth birthday I wished Brittany Pearce would kiss me. I got it, but it was probably a mistake to wish for that…" Finn said, making Kurt and Blaine laugh.

"Yeah, I remember what I wished for." Kurt said.

"Did it come true?" Annie asked.

"Yeah. But it was pretty vague." Kurt said, blushing.

"Come on, what was it?" Blaine asked.

"To get a boyfriend. Took a few years." Kurt said, trying not to giggle and blush. Blaine swallowed his cake quickly, running his tongue around his teeth before smiling up at Kurt.

"Really?" Blaine asked. Kurt nodded, giggling a little bit.

"You're adorable." Blaine muttered, reaching under the table and squeezing Kurt's free hand.

"So, Annie, have you talked to your parents since they got down to Arizona?" Burt asked loudly.

"Only right after they landed. Dad didn't take his cell phone since it's the agency's, and I think Mom forgot her charger." Annie said. Burt nodded.

"Mary and Elizabeth were together the most forgetful people I've ever met." Burt said, laughing. Kurt looked up, his heart swelling to see the joy on his dad's face when he talked about his first wife. "Doesn't surprise me at all. Well, tell Mary and Mark hello for me when you get ahold of them." Burt said.

After cake came the presents. Kurt opened Annie's first, a biography on Coco Chanel. Finn gave him a new copy of _A Star is Born_, since Kurt had stepped on his and broken it a few weeks ago. Carole handed Kurt the yellow presents tied in blue ribbon that Blaine had brought, and Kurt delicately undid the wrapping of the first to find an Alexander McQueen bowtie.

"Blaine!" Kurt said, putting the box down and wringing his hands in a napkin even though he hadn't touched any of the food on the table with his hands.

"Two more." Blaine said quietly, and Kurt shook his head, opening the next. It held a regular Alexander McQueen tie.

"_Blaine!_" Kurt said, but his boyfriend just shook his head.

"Third box."

Kurt sighed and opened the third box, laying his eyes on an Alexander McQueen scarf.

"Blaine Anderson…" Kurt whispered, pulling the scarf from the box. Even Burt and Finn, who knew nothing about clothes, could tell that Kurt was holding a very nice piece of cloth. Kurt looked at it all, knowing that he had over three hundred dollars worth of designer accessories in front of him.

"Happy birthday." Blaine said, leaning over and kissing Kurt on the temple.

"You're spending too much money on me." Kurt said, but Blaine shook his head.

"Trust me, I'm not." Blaine said, reaching over and putting his hand over Kurt's. Kurt looked up at his dad, who quickly turned his attention out into the hallway.

"You know, Finn, I think there's a dent in…" Kurt stopped listening to his father's self-diversion and instead leaned over and kissed Blaine quickly.

Kurt opened his present from Burt and Carole, a new set of pots and pans to use around the kitchen and then take off to college the next year, and then he excused himself and Blaine to the backyard.

Years ago Burt had fixed a two-seater swing to the branch of a tree facing perpendicular to the house behind the guest bedroom, and as soon as the weather had turned warm Kurt and Blaine had marked it as their familiar spot to sit where no one would overhear them.

"So what did you wish for?" Blaine asked as they sat down, digging the heel of his shoe into the ground and pushing the chair to swing a little bit.

"Not telling! If I tell you, it won't come true!" Kurt said, tucking his feet up on the swing and Blaine rocked it back and forth.

"Oh, come on." Blaine said. "Unless it's in my best interest for it to come true, I'm going to keep bugging you."

"Do you really think I would wish for something that wasn't in your best interest?" Kurt asked. Blaine smiled.

"A hotter boyfriend?"

"How about you just shut up and we get back to those birthday kisses."

"So it is in my best interest."

"I can't give you hints! I don't want to ruin it!" Kurt said, shoving Blaine's chest playfully. Blaine leaned in and pressed his lips to Kurt's, holding them softly before letting go.

"Five."

"I thought it was six?" Kurt said, not opening his eyes.

"It doesn't count if you kiss me first." Blaine said, moving back in for the true number six, followed closely by seven, eight, nine and ten.

"So how does this birthday stack up to those previous?" Blaine asked, his forehead against Kurt's.

"Blows them out of the water." Kurt said with a smile.

"Good. And we've still got tomorrow. Wear one of those new ties I got you." Blaine said with an extra big grin.

"You don't have to spend all this money on me, Blaine." Kurt said seriously. Blaine shook his head.

"My parents don't see my bank statement. They'll never know. Besides, I never spend my allowance money anyway. I promise, it's not a big deal."

"You're too good to me." Kurt said softly. Blaine smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"I want to be good to you. I want to see you smile. I want this to be the happiest birthday you've ever had."

"You know I can't really have a completely happy birthday, right?" Kurt asked softly. Blaine nodded.

"I can always tell when you're thinking about your mom, Kurt. I can see it in your eyes. And, you know, you should think about her on your birthday. Just know she'd want you to be happy."

"She'd like you. A lot." Kurt said. "I've been thinking about it." Kurt said, and Blaine smiled.

"I'll take that as the highest compliment." Blaine said. "Now, if you don't mind, I should probably hit the road before too long, and you still have six kisses left…"

**Author's Note: Hi guys! Thanks again for the reviews. A big thanks to scarlettfire for pointing out a mistake I made last chapter. I don't have the episodes to look back on, so do watch out for those mistakes. Kurt wasn't lying to Blaine, my memory just lapsed, so I'm fixing that. **

**Also, in terms of the concerns with Annie: I know Annie may have sounded perfect in the first chapter, but that's because you're getting the one-sided Kurt view where Annie is his mother returned to him and everything's wonderful. I don't want to spoil things for you, but Kurt's in for an awakening about the fact that Annie _isn't_ his mother, she's much different and has her own flaws, and they're all going to come out the better for it.**

**I hope you all enjoyed Kurt's birthday and are ready for the date next chapter :)**


	12. Chapter 12: Birthday Date

"Which tie?" Kurt asked as Annie stepped off the last stair and into his room. He was in his best suit, the one he had worn to have Breakfast at Tiffany's with Rachel, and seated in front of his vanity holding the two ties Blaine had given him the night before alternatingly up to his neck.

"You texted me that you had an emergency and then ask me about ties?" Annie scolded, leaning against the doorframe. Really she had known it was something of this form, considering the time, but she wasn't going to let Kurt get away with it that easily.

"It is an emergency! It's seven-thirty and I still have to do my hair!" Kurt said, and Annie rolled her eyes.

"It takes you all of ten minutes to do your hair at your most picky." Annie said, with all the knowledge of someone who had been around Kurt for three days.

"And if I mess up I have to do it over again! And then there's my full check, and last minute lotions and cologne…"

"The long tie, princess." She said, walking over to the bed as Kurt scowled at her through his reflection. "The bow tie is a little _too_ formal and too much up here," she gestured to her collarbone, "for that suit since the waist is so narrow."

"I guess you're right." He said, putting the tie down and dabbing his fingers in gel, working it up through his hair.

"Aren't you going to put it on?" Annie asked, laying down on the bed and picking up a copy of Elle he had on the bedside pillow.

"I don't want to get hairspray on it." Kurt said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Right. Well, Rachel is picking me up for our lady dinner at 8:15. I scheduled it so we wouldn't intrude on the skipping that will inevitably be part of you two leaving." She said, flipping through the magazine and settling on an editorial.

"Blaine and I don't _skip_, Annie." Kurt said exasperatedly. Annie looked up, raising her eyebrows. "We may _bounce _on occasion," he admitted, "but we don't _skip_."

"Of course." Annie said drily, flipping a page.

"I just hope Rachel isn't interfering too much with him getting ready. He has a hard enough time dressing himself out of uniform without her interference.

"Have you ever considered giving her a makeover?" Annie asked, looking up again. Kurt grimaced and looked down.

"Before we were really friends I gave her one so Finn wouldn't like her. She looked great, but she went back to the way she was when she realized it wasn't really what he was after."

"What, you're saying he won't date her unless she looks like she stole her clothes from Molly the American Girl doll?" Annie asked, her face showing disgust.

"No," Kurt said, "it's just he's really… simple. I glammed her up past all recognition."

"You are such a bitch, you know that?" Annie said, laughing. "But, really, I want to make her over this summer. Get her set to catch a better fish once she's in New York."

"Don't you mean a bigger fish?" Kurt asked, standing up and bending over as he sprayed his hair into place.

"What's the difference?" Annie asked with a smirk. "Come on, you know you want to."

"If Rachel will let me, I'm all in." Kurt said, standing back up and examining his hair in the mirror, pulling a few strands back into form.

"Do you freak out like this every time you and Blaine go out?" Annie asked, sitting up and abandoning the magazine.

"Well, we don't really go on many dates." Kurt admitted. "Not like real dates, at least. Yeah, we get coffee a ton and go to the park and stuff, but Breadstix hardly counts as a date and there isn't much else to do but the movies, and who cares how I look at the movies, since we're in the dark."

"Yeah, Breadstix definitely doesn't count as a date." Annie affirmed. "That's where we're going tonight. I swear, I'm breaking his habit of your all's even if I have to force the food down your throats."

"And the hick comes out." Kurt muttered loud enough for her to hear as he spotted some lotion across his face, rubbing it in circles. Annie threw the magazine at him in retaliation, and it bounced off his back in a flutter of glossy pages.

"It's southern _Illinois_, Kurt. It's not exactly Arkansas."

"Stop denying your down-home ways." Kurt said slyly, puffing cologne at his neck.

"Your friends don't think I'm a hick, do they?" Annie pouted, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"No." He said, puffing a few more sprays along his chest. "You're related to me." He finished with a satisfied smile. He picked the tie back up from his vanity and tied it, putting it in place. "There, check me over." He said, standing up.

"Hmm… looks good." Annie said, standing up and brushing at Kurt's suit with the palm of her hand.

"This fabric is to die for." She muttered, and Kurt beamed.

"Blaine hasn't seen this yet. I've only worn it in New York when Rachel and I had breakfast at Tiffany's."

"Aw, this is a good suit for that." Annie said, nodding.

"I wore different shoes." Kurt said, sticking out his shiny black shod foot. "What time is it?" Kurt asked suddenly. Annie pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Five 'til." Kurt took a deep breath, bouncing on his toes.

"Okay. I'm going to sit upstairs." Kurt said, grabbing his phone and wallet off the vanity and putting them in his pockets before walking upstairs, Annie following close behind. They had barely reached the top of the stairs when the doorbell rang.

"Damn his punctuality." Kurt muttered, gulping and walking to the door.

"Knock him dead." Annie whispered, lightly pushing him to start walking to the door.

Kurt opened the door quickly, exhaling a held breath as he looked at his boyfriend standing in front of him. They had seen each other just a few hours ago at Rachel's house, but there had been an electricity between them all day that they hadn't acted on, one that tied Kurt's stomach in knots and made him want to pounce on his boyfriend, hold him tight and never let him go. Blaine had teased him by not allowing him even a kiss when Kurt and Annie arrived at Rachel's, saying that he was making Kurt wait for their date. All through the meeting their only contact was Blaine's ankle draped over Kurt's as they sat side by side.

It was officially their date, and Kurt had only enough time to take in a quick glance of his boyfriend in a very nice black suit holding what looked like a flower before noticing his hazel eyes grow soft and suddenly closer as he stepped up into the doorway in front of Kurt.

"You look unbelievable." He whispered as he leaned in and kissed Kurt, his arms wrapping around Kurt's waist and drawing him to him. Kurt gasped and Blaine opened his mouth as well, allowing Kurt's tongue to slide into his mouth.

After a few moments they broke apart, their eyes fluttering open as they smiled warmly at each other.

"Hello to you, too." Kurt whispered, his hands still cinched on Blaine's waist.

"Here." Blaine said, pulling his right hand from behind Kurt and holding up a single red rose. Kurt smiled, taking it in his fingers between the thorns, bringing it up to his nose and smelling it.

"Thank you," Kurt murmured, spinning the rose around. He stepped back out of Blaine's arms and walked back to the living room doorway.

"Annie, can you put this in a vase for me?" He asked, twirling the rose again. Annie's jaw dropped jealously as she stood up and walked over to the foyer, taking the rose from him and looking over to Blaine.

"_Tell me_ you have a straight twin brother." Blaine grinned at her words, shrugging.

"I don't, but I do have twelve twin Warblers." He reasoned.

"What?" She asked incredulously.

"His choir." Kurt said, rolling his eyes. "The Blaine Warblers."

"It's just called the Warblers," Blaine clarified, "and I seem to remember a certain new kid getting a crack at a couple of duets." Blaine said, raising his eyebrows.

"That's because he was dating the lead singer." Kurt said, winking at Annie.

"Not the first time." Blaine protested.

"Well the lead singer was under the mistaken opinion that the new kid could be sexy." Kurt said, crossing his arms.

"Not mistaken, the new kid just needed a little bit of convincing." Blaine said slowly, and Kurt's eyes dropped as he blushed, biting his lips from the inside.

"Okay, really, if you two want to talk dirty to each other, do it on the road." Annie commanded, gesturing toward the door.

"What was that?" Came a deeper voice than all concerned, and the three turned, faces white with panic, to see Burt walking in through the kitchen. Annie quickly clapped her hands over her mouth. "I was considering extending Kurt's curfew to midnight, but now I'm not so sure…" Burt's lip twitched toward a smile as he saw Kurt perk up at the idea of being allowed out an extra hour.

"Oh my gosh, Uncle Burt, I was just kidding." Annie said, and Burt allowed himself to chuckle.

"Go on. Midnight. Not a second later, or Blaine you won't see him for a month." Burt said, pointing at Kurt.

"Absolutely, Sir." Blaine said, reopening the door and backing out.

"Thanks, Dad!" Kurt said excitedly, and the two quickly made for the car.

"Okay, really, is there something on my face?" Kurt asked teasingly at the fifth stop sign they hit. Every time Blaine stopped the car he looked at Kurt more than the road, his eyes scanning from Kurt's face down his body and back.

_If that were where I was looking…_ Blaine thought, but sighed.

"You just look really, really good." Blaine said.

"Keep saying that and I'll drag you shopping for one of your own." Kurt teased.

"I have plenty of suits." Blaine said, his eyes back on the road as he drove.

"But you don't see me gawking when you wear them."

"I do, too… just not as much." Blaine said, his lips lifting in a knowing smile. "I don't get to see you in suits nearly as much as you see me in them, and I'm realizing how much of a shame that is."

"So this is more of a hit than my prom ensemble?" Kurt asked snarkily.

"By far. And before you say anything, you stand out just as much in this if not more."

"You really like this suit."

"I really like _you_, and this suit is just… you." Blaine said. Kurt smiled at him, and when they reached another stop sign he reached over and caught Blaine's chin in his hand, pulling him over for a soft kiss.

"You're making it a lot harder to drive to Della Sorella." Blaine said, beginning to drive again, blinking rapidly.

"You were stopped." Kurt said, rolling his eyes.

"I mean drive to the restaurant instead of just skipping it and taking you off to go make out." Blaine said, clenching the steering wheel to the point where Kurt could see the whites of his knuckles.

"What type of cheap date do you think I am?" Kurt teased, and Blaine smiled.

"Sometime I'm going to actually go rogue on you and you're going to love it."

"As long as you don't start calling yourself a maverick…" Kurt said with a smile. Blaine grinned.

"Don't worry. I actually know my American history."

"You have to keep rubbing it in about that test score, don't you?" Kurt said, his face scrunched.

"You were so sure you had beaten me." Blaine said smugly.

"You acted like the world had ended, and I had only missed two points. Of course I thought so."

"Yeah, the one I missed was really easy, and…"

"There. That's the restaurant. So you can stop relishing over a test you beat me by one point on."

"Well the dinner date you had to take me on because of it was particularly memorable." Blaine commented with a smirk. Kurt blushed. They had managed to be the first two seated in the room they were in at the restaurant, and had been making out when David, Wes and Nick walked in to be seated. Obviously they still hadn't heard that last of that.

"Let's just focus on this one, shall we?" Kurt said, smiling through his exasperated tone.

"Way ahead of you." Blaine said, pulling Kurt's hand up to kiss as he put the car in park. "Don't you dare touch that door." He added as Kurt unbuckled his seat belt. Blaine came around and opened the door for Kurt, and when his boyfriend was standing in front of him he cupped Kurt's face in his hand and kissed him gently.

"I love you, Mr. Competitive." Blaine whispered before taking Kurt's hand and walking them to the door. According to the clock on the wall it was only 8:20, but Blaine walked right up to the hostess.

"8:30 reservation under Anderson." Blaine said, smiling at the young Italian woman behind the podium. She nodded, her eyes averting their linked hands as she checked the book.

"Your table's already open, so we can seat you now." The hostess said, leading them through the restaurant. Kurt took in the sight of the greenery-real plants, all over the place- and small fountains trickling across the sprawling booths. They were led to one about where Kurt assumed the middle-point of the building was, their booth like all of them boxed in by trellises of ivy and flowers.

"Your waiter is named Samuele, and he will be here straight away." The girl said, leaving them alone.

"This place is beautiful." Kurt said, turning to Blaine. The booth was small and circular, seeming to draw them together. Blaine only nodded and reached over, brushing his fingers across Kurt's temple.

The waiter arrived. Kurt could tell that he, like the hostess, was obviously Italian. Kurt could also see that he was the type of person who tried his hardest to fit the quintessential gay stereotype.

"Good evening, gentlemen, welcome to Della Sorella. Mi chiamo Samuele." The waiter said, brandishing menus while scooping his voice in tones that Kurt and Mercedes had mockingly dubbed the "gay mating call." His eyes scanned down both boys, staying longer on Kurt. Kurt fidgeted uncomfortably, looking up to see Blaine's lips pursed. "Would either of you like anything to drink other than water?" He asked, his eyes flittering back to Kurt, who put his palms down flat on the table in his discomfort.

"Prendiamo due biccieri di succo d'uva." Blaine said forcefully, taking both Kurt and Samuele by surprise.

"Si, signor." He went on to mention a few specials before leaving the tiny booth again.

"You speak Italian." Kurt said, looking up. Blaine nodded, fidgeting with his empty water glass.

"Italian nanny, remember? I ordered us grape juice, I hope that's alright." He said with a forced smile, obviously distracted. Kurt sighed, reaching over and putting both of his hands out on the table for Blaine to take.

"I guess I can forgive you for being so bad at French now." Kurt said, and Blaine looked up with a resigned smile and laced his fingers with Kurt's, their palms flush against each other.

"You loved helping me practice, though." Blaine said, batting his eyelashes a bit. Kurt rolled his eyes, smiling.

"Yeah, but after we started dating, the only French you wanted to practice was kissing." Kurt said, squeezing Blaine's hand a little tighter.

"Practice makes perfect," Blaine nearly whispered, squeezing back and crooking an index finger to run along Kurt's fingers laced through his.

Samuele returned to their little box with a tray of two glasses and two pitchers, pouring water into the cups already on the table and grape juice into the two he just brought.

"Do you need more time to look at the menu?" He asked, noticing that both menus were exactly where the boys had set them after he handed them to them. Once again his eyes stayed on Kurt long enough for Blaine's grip to tighten.

"Per piacere." Blaine said, and Kurt could hear the annoyance through the cool mask to his voice.

"Scusi. Tornerò in pochi minuti." Samuele said, nodding and turning back out of the booth.

"You don't like him," Kurt said, taking his right hand from Blaine's and reaching up, cupping the older boy's temple and stroking his forehead with his thumb. Kurt could feel the tension in his boyfriend's temple release and Blaine smiled weakly.

"I don't like the way he's looking at you… it reminds me of… bad things from the past." He finished weakly, deciding not to let the word 'Karofsky' interfere with their date. Kurt sighed, dropping his hand back down into Blaine's and squeezing tight.

"Well there's nothing he can do, because I'm here on a date with my wonderful boyfriend." Kurt said, making Blaine smile.

"We should probably look at these menus before _Samuele_ comes back," Blaine said, mocking the waiter's tone of voice. Kurt giggled, taking one hand from Blaine's to hold up the menu before turning it sharply down again.

"It's in Italian." He said, looking at Blaine.

"You can't read it?" Blaine asked, surprised. Kurt shook his head, surprised at how different French and Italian were to be in the same group of languages. He recognized a few cooking words and a few cognates, but the menu was largely unreadable.

"Come here." Blaine said, reaching out his arm sideways and Kurt scooted around the circular booth, resting against Blaine's side with his neck on his shoulder, smiling at the feel of Blaine's suit beneath his cheek.

Blaine began to read the menu, first reading the title in Italian and then translating both it and the description for Kurt. Kurt nodded as he began to familiarize himself with the terms, so that when they popped up again he knew what some of the title items were.

"I'll have that." Kurt said after Blaine read off an item with about six different vegetables.

"The fiori primavera?" Blaine asked, and Kurt nodded.

"Flori primaventa…" Kurt tried to repeat, making Blaine laugh.

"F-ie-or-ie pr-ee-ma-veh-ra." Blaine enunciated. "It means flower spring. My guess is the pasta will be shaped like flowers."

"Ooh!" Kurt said. Fiora… fioreh..." he tried, knowing he wasn't getting it quite right.

"Fi-or-i." Blaine said, flipping the R in the middle in a way that caught Kurt's breath.

"Fiori." He repeated, a little less impressively. He worked on 'primavera' until he had it similarly under control.

"Very good." Blaine said, moving out from under Kurt's head and leaning over to reward him with a kiss. Kurt smiled and scooted back toward where he had been sitting before Blaine's assistance, but Blaine smiled when he saw that Kurt didn't make it quite as far away.

"Are we ready to order?" Samuele asked, entering the booth a few minutes later.

"I'll have the fiori primavera." Kurt said, easing into the Italian. The waiter grinned and nodded.

"It's absolutely wonderful, a great choice. Very delicate." He said, allowing his hands to graze over Kurt's as he took the menu. Kurt pulled his hands away quickly, looking down and biting the tip his tongue with his side teeth in the way he always did when his personal space was invaded by those unwelcome.

"E per il linguista?" The water asked, turning to Blaine. It was enough of a French cognate that Kurt knew the waiter was referring to Blaine as the "linguist," and he couldn't believe the audacity.

"Prenderò i cannelloni." Blaine said with a sickly smile, almost flipping his menu into the waiter's hand.

"Si, signori. Amelia will be along shortly with bread for the two of you." Samuele said, leaving them alone again. Blaine sighed, and Kurt reached over and took his hand. Blaine smiled, tapping his fingers against the base of Kurt's palm.

"Well, we know which one of us made the better catch." Blaine said with a little smile. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Did you miss how annoying he is? He probably only likes me for my suit."

"I only like you for what's under your suit…" Blaine teased.

"Liar."

"Definitely." Blaine said, a little softer, tightening his hold on Kurt's hand. "And since I don't just like you for what's under your suit, I have another present for you." Kurt could see a bit of excitement in Blaine's eyes and blinked, trying not to get excited himself.

"You don't." He said, thinking of all the presents Blaine had already given him.

"I do."

"But, you don't." Kurt said, glancing around to make sure that he was correct in his assessment that Blaine hadn't brought in any box-like item. Blaine took his hand from Kurt's and started unbuttoning his sleeve.

"I inherited this bracelet from my great-grandfather." Blaine said, shaking a gold bracelet out over his wrist. "It's not really my thing, so I don't wear it very much. I know most of your stuff is silver, but maybe sometimes you could wear it for me?" Blaine asked, unclasping the bracelet before putting his hand out for Kurt's wrist. Unbelievingly, Kurt stretched out his wrist and allowed Blaine to clasp it around his wrist, the metal still warm from Blaine's arm. Kurt brought it up his face to look at, and saw that it had a flat gold plate on the top of the bracelet and then the rest was a rope of gold links around to the back, where the clasp was definitely marked as from Tiffany's.

"Why are you trusting me with this?" Kurt asked, the breath marked out of him as he almost hyperventilated. Blaine laughed.

"Out of the two of us, who here is more trustworthy with jewelry?" Blaine asked, smiling warmly as Kurt admired the bracelet at a few more angles before looking up back up at Blaine.

"You're too good to me." Kurt murmured, putting his hands down in his lap, his other hand still on the bracelet.

"You need to stop saying that because I couldn't be." Blaine said, making Kurt smile more before he leaned around the table, putting his knee on the booth seat to propel him over to press his lips against Blaine's.

"I love you so much." Blaine whispered against his lips after Kurt withdrew them from his.

"I love you, too. Now stop giving me things." Kurt said, watching as Blaine's eyes twinkled in the light, so close to his own.

Kurt was just sitting down, once again slightly closer to Blaine than he had been before, when an Italian girl around their age walked into the booth, bringing them bread and olive oil with herbs.

"So," Blaine started once the girl left, "how many outfits have you planned to go with the bracelet?" He asked, taking a sip of his juice and smiling. Kurt blushed and smiled up at him.

"Four, and I'm one accessory away from five." Kurt said, reaching for a piece of bread. Blaine laughed.

"You move fast."

"Well most of my outfits are relatively jewelry-neutral. So it's just the loss of whatever I wear it with, and a replacement for the second accessory. I have a gold cord necklace that will work well with most of it… but that's scarf exclusive…" Kurt said, making Blaine smile even more.

"When I'm a politician you're going to get to pick out all my clothes for TV." Blaine said, picking up a piece of bread and dipping it in the olive oil.

"You're going to be a politician?" Kurt asked, looking up from the bracelet. He felt dumb asking; Blaine's aspirations seemed like something he should know about the other boy. But Kurt realized that it was something that Blaine never brought up.

"I've thought about it a lot lately and decided it's what I want to do." Blaine said with a little shrug. "And now that I know it's what I want, I'm really set on it."

"Why politics?" Kurt asked curiously. Now that this side of Blaine was opened up to him he wanted to know everything.

"I want to change things, Kurt." Blaine said quietly, picking at his bread. "Not just for us, but for everyone who needs it." He looked up to Kurt for a reaction, and his face relaxed into an easy smile at the admiring look in his boyfriend's eyes.

"You're the most wonderful person I've ever met." Kurt said quietly, taking Blaine's hands.

"I haven't done anything yet." Blaine said, blushing and looking down.

"But you will." Kurt said, the honest confidence in his voice bolstering Blaine and bringing a smile to his still-blushing face. "It's perfect for you."

"You think so?" Blaine asked, and Kurt nodded, smiling.

"I _know_ so."

"Get over here." Blaine commanded, already scooting into the side of the booth himself. Kurt grinned and followed directions, slipping his arms around Blaine's waist as he wrapped his around Kurt's neck, pulling him into a full kiss. Kurt slid his tongue into Blaine's mouth and silently offered his thanks up to the restaurant designer for the trellised-in booths and the ivy shielding them from actually being guilty of PDA.

The boys didn't even bother to go back to their original spots when they were done kissing. Instead they leaned against each other, holding each other delicately, their heads meeting at the temple as they spoke quietly. Only when their food arrived did they sit back up, and Samuele the waiter only gave them a glance before deciding to just deliver their food and exit quickly.

"Looks like someone finally got the point." Blaine said with a little grin, making Kurt smile as he began to eat.

"This is delicious!" Kurt said after swallowing his first bite, waving his hands a little bit. Blaine chuckled, reaching over and sticking his fork into Kurt's food and trying for himself.

"That _is_ really good." Blaine agreed, moving to take a bite of his own pasta. "This, too. Here, take a bite." He said, putting some on his fork and holding it up for Kurt. Kurt blushed a little bit as he leaned over and took the bite from Blaine's fork.

"Mmm, it's good!" Kurt said, marinara sauce smudged on his lip, making Blaine snicker. "What?" Kurt asked, but Blaine merely leaned over and kissed it off, his lips tugging at Kurt's upper lip as it pulled the marinara away.

"You had some sauce on your face." Blaine explained with a devious grin, taking a sip of his grape juice.

The two ate in quiet conversation, followed by sharing a slice of tiramisu that Blaine ordered from Samuele while _oh so casually_ mentioning that it was his boyfriend's birthday, obviously enjoying the waiter's lack of comfort when he realized it would be Blaine paying the bill. When they left, Blaine calculated to make sure the bill was _exactly_ fifteen percent.

"I don't want to be rude. Hopefully he gets the point never to flirt with someone's date." Blaine said, flourishing off his signature.

"At least not yours." Kurt said, and Blaine grinned.

"Definitely not mine." Blaine said, taking his hand as they left the restaurant and got into Blaine's car, Blaine opening the door for his boyfriend before getting in and beginning to drive to the botanical gardens.

"I have a dumb question," Kurt said, turning to Blaine as the older boy drove.

"Okay."

"Why are we going to the botanical garden at… ten-thirty in the evening?" Kurt asked.

"Because your father gave you an extra hour on your curfew, so I didn't rush you to be done eating by ten." Blaine said with a little grin.

"Blaine, flowers bloom in the daytime." Kurt said a little more explicitly.

"And night flowers bloom in the nighttime, and the garden has a really nice night flower tour." Blaine said. "It's just… not showing tonight."

"But they're open?" Kurt asked, and Blaine nodded.

"There probably won't be very many people there, I hope you don't mind." He said deviously, knowing Kurt wouldn't.

"I don't even know what to say to you." Kurt said, a grin spreading across his face. "Have you ever been here before?" He asked as they pulled into the parking lot, and smiled more when the other boy shook his head. Glancing around, Blaine gave a triumphal smile to see that there were only four other cars in the parking lot, and some of them had to be for employees.

"You just showed me those pictures of you and Rachel here on a field trip here and said how much you love it, so I thought it would be a fun little adventure."

"At night." Kurt said with a grin as Blaine parked the car and turned to Kurt.

"Had to think of something to do after dinner." Blaine said with a smile, pulling some things out of the little storage area on the door and putting them in his pockets before getting out of the car and walking around, opening the door for Kurt.

When the younger boy stepped out of the car Blaine stepped in and closed the distance between them, pressing Kurt against the car right under his shoulder blades, kissing him hard. Kurt moaned, gripping Blaine's shoulders and arching away from the car, into Blaine. Blaine quickly wrapped his arms around Kurt's back, bracing him and holding the younger boy against himself as he moaned in return.

"What was that for?" Kurt asked, his eyes still closed as Blaine's mouth left his. He gasped when he felt Blaine's lips reconnect to him at his neck, pressing firmly.

"What isn't it for?" Blaine teased, opening his mouth a little bit and flicking his tongue against Kurt's skin inside his mouth, making the younger boy squirm.

"Blaine…" Kurt whimpered, fidgeting with a little foot stomp.

"Yes?" Blaine asked, drawing back from Kurt's neck and putting his face back to directly in front of Kurt's and giving his best puppy eyes. Kurt made a low noise in the back of his throat and basically pounced on Blaine, trying to press his lips against the older boy's but being thwarted by the fact that the younger boy had begun laughing.

"What?" Kurt asked, confused as Blaine nearly entered hysterics.

"You… like… growled." Blaine said, still laughing. When Blaine saw Kurt's mortified face he slipped his arms back around Kurt's waist, attempting to quell his laughter.

"It was adorable." Blaine elaborated. "It was like this kitten coming at me…" he said, bringing up one of his hands and making claws with his fingers. Kurt laughed a little, still blushing. "Actually I kind of liked it." Blaine said in a lower voice, "I wonder if I could get you to do it again."

"Stop, it's embarrassing." Kurt said, looking down. Blaine tapped a finger under Kurt's chin, raising it to look up at him.

"I just told you, I like it." Blaine said, pressing his lips against Kurt's again and pressing himself against him to make his point. Kurt gasped, and Blaine took the opportunity to slide his tongue into Kurt's mouth, kissing him until Kurt's tension subsided, and then doing his best to replace it with a new type of tension.

"You weren't kidding." Kurt whispered, and Blaine shook his head with a grin.

"Come on, we should go, you know, see the gardens." Blaine said, taking Kurt's hand and leading him to the building. He pulled two tickets and handed them to the attendant before leading Kurt through the building and back out into the warm summer night.

The moon was thin, but provided enough light for the boys to see the night flowers and the path. They walked hand in hand, Blaine's thumb turning small circles against Kurt's palm that were driving the younger boy crazy. Kurt tried to focus on the pretty white and purple night blooming flowers, but found himself rushing them along to the end of the night path.

"Come this way." Kurt said with a grin, tugging Blaine's hand. The older boy's eyebrow's shot up and he followed eagerly as Kurt pulled him along a cobblestone path, through areas that Blaine could tell were beautiful by day and around to where there was a little lake inside the botanical gardens. Kurt started them up another path Blaine wouldn't have noticed, climbing a hill and going back down around to a pretty wooden dock floating on the edge of the water.

"This is really gorgeous." Blaine murmured, looking out over the moonlit lake. Kurt nodded in agreement, laying his head on Blaine's shoulder as the other boy ran his thumb around the back of Kurt's suit comfortably. After a long moment Blaine turned his face to Kurt's, his heart pounding at the way the moonlight made Kurt's pale skin glow and his hair shine. Blaine turned and took Kurt around his waist, one of his hands finding Kurt's and beginning to rock them back and forth a little bit.

"One dance with you," Blaine sang quietly, loving the soft smile on Kurt's face. "In the moonlight. On this magic night." He kissed Kurt softly, and they stopped dancing. Kurt clasped his hands behind Blaine's neck, pulling himself in closer to the kiss as Blaine locked his arms around Kurt's waist, pulling the younger boy up against him. The kiss quickly grew heated and Kurt squirmed up against Blaine, rocking into him and showing Blaine just how turned on Kurt was. Blaine backed them up to where the back of Kurt's legs were against a wooden bench. Smiling to himself, Blaine reached around and stroked Kurt through his suit pants, making him buck into Blaine more. He did it again and Kurt began to whimper.

"Blaine…" Kurt gasped the third time Blaine ran his flat palm down Kurt, and the older boy smiled more.

"What is it, Baby?" He asked, doing it again and making Kurt toss his head around.

"Blaine." Kurt bit out, and Blaine ran his fingers up to the button.

"Sounds like you need some help," Blaine said, opening his eyes to glance around. He doubted anyone would be on this side of the lake, and where they were was hidden from the other side if anyone happened to be there. Considering the money the nighttime tickets had taken him, Blaine doubted anyone was. He flicked the buttons of Kurt's pants open, sliding his hand in and grasping Kurt around the balls, his thumb flicking at Kurt's base.

"Fuck, Blaine…" Kurt whimpered, and Blaine obediently slid the zipper down on Kurt's pants and pulled them down along with Kurt's underwear as he sunk to his knees. Kurt's eyes shot open and looked down at him, and Blaine found himself in the perfect position to see Kurt swelling even more. The younger boy gulped and spread his feet out a little more, bracing himself and letting his eyes drift shut at the feeling of Blaine's heavy breath on him.

"You better be planning on watching this." Blaine murmured, growing harder at the sight of Kurt's dick visibly twitching at his words. Kurt took a deep breath and looked down just as Blaine leaned forward and slid his mouth around him, going almost as far as he could.

Kurt moaned loudly, his fists clenched at his sides to keep from bucking into his boyfriend's mouth. Blaine slid his head back to where only the head of Kurt's penis was in his mouth and licked his tongue through the slit, this time making Kurt buck up and slightly push back into Blaine's mouth. Blaine moaned around Kurt, the vibration so much that Kurt found his hands in Blaine's curls, tugging sharply and making the older boy moan again as he slid his mouth back down around Kurt, and sucking sharply once he was as far as he dared go.

The two carried on in this way for several minutes before Blaine took his mouth off of Kurt, making him whimper in protest before Blaine licked his way up the bottom of Kurt's penis from the base and enveloped Kurt fully again in one swift movement, making Kurt cry out in the ragged way that made Blaine know Kurt was close. He continued to suck hard on Kurt as he reached into his pocket and drew out tissues, and held them in one hand as the other reached up and began to pump Kurt in time with his mouth.

"Blaine!" Kurt cried out loudly, his fingers crooking in Blaine's hair and attempting to pull his boyfriend away from him. Blaine looked up at Kurt with twinkling dark eyes, his mouth still moving around Kurt. The younger boy tossed his head back, repeating his boyfriend's name several times until he came, shooting into Blaine's mouth. Blaine let him finish before taking the tissues and using them to catch anything he missed as he closed his mouth around what Kurt had squirted, swallowing it in one sticky gulp as the younger boy sunk down onto the bench, his breathing hard.

Still on his knees, Blaine adjusted Kurt back into his clothing and zipped him up. Kurt's eyes fluttered open and he leaned forward and kissed Blaine, groaning at the taste of himself on Blaine's mouth.

"Oh my God, Darling…" Kurt murmured. Blaine grinned.

"How was that?" Blaine asked with a smile, rubbing his thumb along Kurt's temple.

"I don't have adjectives, I just have kisses." Kurt murmured, leaning back in and making his point. Putting his hands on Blaine's sides, he drew back.

"Let me get you."

"Nope." Blaine said, drawing back. "It's your birthday." Kurt frowned at him and reached down, gasping at how much Blaine was straining against his pants.

"Blaine, you're about to come right now." Kurt scolded, and Blaine's eyes rolled back at just the slight touch. "At least let me rub you off."

"Here." Blaine conceded, pulling a little bottle of lotion out of his pocket and handing it to Kurt. The younger boy unzipped Blaine's suit pants and freed him before putting some of the lotion on his hand and grasping Blaine in it, making the older boy give a sort of double moan as Kurt began to fist him. Kurt leaned in and kissed him, Blaine's lips breaking away from time-to-time to cry out. Kurt picked up his pace and soon Blaine came, squirting out onto the ground under the bench and collapsing back on his feet. Kurt took the tissues from the ground and wiped up the bit still on Blaine as the older boy drew his composure, and Kurt helped him to stand, fastening him up and kissing him.

"I love you." Kurt whispered, kissing Blaine again.

"I love you, too." Blaine said, kissing Kurt strongly. "How much time do we have?" He asked. Kurt pulled his phone from his pants pocket, sliding it open and looking at the time.

"It's eleven-twenty. We'll have to leave here a quarter after, so that gives us just over fifteen minutes." Kurt said, and Blaine nodded.

"Good." He said, pulling Kurt over to the bench and sitting down to watch the moon on the lake and cuddle as best they could.

**Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, I've had horrible writer's block… which is ridiculous seeing as I've had this chapter pretty planned out for a long time. Samuele was thrown in pretty late- I'm sick of people calling Kurt a stereotype, so I thought I'd put some contrast in here ;) Again, thank you all for the sweet reviews! Hope you liked this chapter as well.**


	13. Chapter 13: Surprise!

"Mmm, good morning." Blaine said, stepping into the kitchen in his pajamas and a t-shirt, smiling at his younger sister.

"Good morning," Jessie said from the table, much more awake than Blaine. "How was your date?" She whispered excitedly, kicking her feet wildly. Blaine glanced to make sure no one was coming and grinned.

"It was great." He said, pouring himself a bowl of Lucky Charms to match the one Jessie was eating.

"You did kiss Kurt for his birthday, right?" Jessie asked authoritatively. Blaine smiled to himself at the thought of just how much he had.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to kiss him?" He teased, turning to her. Jessie clearly wasn't taking the issue lightly, her mouth open in shock.

"Not around _me!_ But for his birthday you are!" She said as Blaine poured his milk, and he laughed. He grabbed a spoon and walked over to the table, putting his bowl down and kissing her on the top of the head.

"I did, don't worry." Blaine admitted, sitting down.

"Good. Kurt deserves it. He's special." Jessie said, pointing her spoon at her brother and dripping milk on the table in the process. Blaine took a moment to reflect on how lucky he was before making a retort.

"You know, as my little sister, you're supposed to not like everyone I date, think they're taking me away from you and that they're horrible people." Blaine commented.

"But you don't have an _everyone_, you have Kurt." Jessie said, and Blaine blinked a few times. "Kurt's not any of those things."

"And what makes you think you know? You've met him once." Blaine said.

"You." Jessie replied seriously, looking up at him. "Lucy drags me around to where all the teenagers are at the country club, and all I hear is how so-and-so is _so_ cute or so-and-so is _so_ hot. You don't talk about Kurt that way."

"How do you know I don't when you're not around?" Blaine said, but he was touched that Jessie could tell how sweet he was with Kurt.

"Because over Christmas break you got all peppy telling me how cute Jeremiah was and then you'd kind of settle down and tell all these stories about things you and Kurt did together and funny things he said."

"You're the most perceptive nine-year-old known to man." Blaine said accusatively, reaching over and ruffling her hair. They sat in silence for a while and then their mother entered, dressed in jogging clothes.

"Blaine, you got home late last night." She said. He was surprised she knew; when he came through the door at almost half past one the night before the entire house was dark.

"Yeah, I got home after one." He said, making the marshmallows he had saved in his bowl spin around in the milk until they cast one off for him to eat.

"Where were you?" She asked.

"Birthday party for my friend Kurt. We were in Lima and the party wrapped up around midnight." He said, forcing himself to look up at her in attempt to throw some honesty on the situation.

"Who was there?" She asked, and Blaine scrambled. _No Wes, she might have seen him around. No David, he's my next excuse…_

"Nick, Curt and Jeff from the Warblers, a few other Dalton boys and some guys from Lima." Blaine said, emphasis on the guys. His mother often got after him for spending too much time around girls.

"You spend so much time in Lima with this Kurt, but we haven't met him." His mother mused, and Blaine forced himself to remain calm. "Invite him to dinner a week from tomorrow, it's not fair that we haven't been hospitable." Okay, there wasn't any calm to be had.

"I don't know if he can…" Blaine started, but his mother raised her eyebrows.

"Ask him, Blaine. Now I'm going out for a run. Jessie, be good for your brother and wash up before Therese gets here." She said before grabbing her sunglasses off the counter and heading out. Blaine turned to Jessie, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Can I cuss?" He asked, and she covered her ears.

"_FUCK._"

**I have to talk to Kurt. –Blaine**

**You're not supposed to! We're all supposed to ignore him today until Rachel's. –Annie**

**It's an emergency. –Blaine**

**What's wrong? -Annie**

**My mom wants me to invite him to family dinner next Sunday. –Blaine**

**So? –Annie**

**They don't know about us. –Blaine**

**Oh, that's right. Damn. Call him. Don't you dare come to Lima. –Annie**

**Thanks for the permission. If Rachel gets mad I'll tell her you didn't know anything :-) –Blaine**

**Yeah you bet you're on your own with this. –Annie**

Blaine smiled at Annie's last text and quickly hit his call button twice, dialing the last number in his call log. He was upstairs in his room, sitting on the edge of his bed with his forehead against the window. He referred to it as his stress spot, the place he always went to when something was wrong while he was home.

"Good morning." Kurt's voice answered from the other side of the line, and Blaine could just hear the sweetness in his tone left over from a night like the one before.

"Good morning." Blaine said, laying down on the bed and staring up through the window. He knew he wasn't supposed to be talking to Kurt, but now that he had an excuse he was going to use it. "Sleep well?"

"Mmmhmm. You?" Kurt asked. Blaine smiled.

"Definitely." Blaine said, a wicked smile spreading across his lips.

"Last night was so wonderful, Blaine. And not just… you know. All of it."

"It really was." Blaine said softly.

"So what's up?" Kurt asked, and Blaine sighed and sat back up.

"Kurt, we… we have a problem." Blaine said, trying to think of a way to explain this.

"What's wrong?" Kurt asked, his voice a little sharper.

"I just had a talk with my mom… and, well, you're cordially invited to dinner with my family Sunday night." Blaine got out, resting his forehead back against his window. He heard Kurt take a sharp breath.

"Blaine, what happened?" He asked, and Blaine closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

"She said I've been spending too much time in Lima and we need to be hospitable and have you for dinner." He said.

"Well, at least it's not your dad saying it, or I would think it was literal." Kurt attempted to joke.

"It's not going to be _that_ bad." Blaine asserted. "I hope."

"We can figure this out." Kurt said, but Blaine could hear the worry in his voice. "We'll just have to act like we're just friends."

"According to Wes and David, we didn't act like we were just friends when we _were_ just friends." Blaine said, a reluctant little grin on his face. Kurt paused before speaking.

"Well, we'll just have to pretend." Kurt said. Blaine _knew_ that tone, and could see Kurt's please little sassy smile.

"I hate to tell you this, but that didn't work so well with Jess." Blaine said.

"I hate to tell _you_ this, but Jessie kind of already knew." Kurt quipped back. Blaine smirked, thinking of his conversation with Jessie at breakfast.

"Yeah, she's scary that way."

"It's going to be okay, Blaine." Kurt said softly, and Blaine laid back down on his bed, closing his eyes again to listen to Kurt's voice. "We can manage one dinner."

"I hope you're right." Blaine said.

"Of course I'm right. That's why you love me. We'll just have to get together and practice acting like we're straight."

"I'd rather get together and practice not being straight." Blaine said with a grin.

"_Blaine!_" Kurt gasped, and Blaine's grin split into a full smile.

"Couldn't help it. You were so sexy last night." Blaine said, feeling himself grow a little hard.

"_I_ was? God, Blaine, really…"

"You were." Blaine affirmed.

"So were you." Kurt sighed. "WHAT?" He yelled, making Blaine frown. "FINE, COME DOWN HERE." He heard Kurt roll over.

"Huh?" Blaine asked, but he soon heard for himself.

"Really? That's what you need? I'm on the phone."

"Hi, Blaine." Annie's voice said. Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Ugh… Blaine, I'm going to let you go. Love you."

"Love you, too." Blaine said, and Kurt hung up the phone.

Blaine looked down at his pants and sighed, checking to make sure his door was locked and grabbing a bottle of lotion off his desk.

"I don't see why you need my sketches. I'm probably going to have to redo them all after we cast on Wednesday." Kurt bit out, but Annie was already pulling tacks off his bulletin board and collecting the papers hanging there.

"I'm making copies because we need to give Brittany and Mike an idea of what they're working with for choreography." Annie said. "Wait, why is my dress short?" She asked, frowning at his Beauty sketch.

"One, it's not you yet." Kurt said, but he kind of knew it would be. They were keeping the bookish Beauty persona from Disney, and the only person who looked as ridiculously bookish as Annie was Rachel, who was clearly going to be Cinderella. "And two, they're all short, because I had the choreography part in mind."

"I'm not dancing, I can have a long dress." Annie said.

"What do you mean you're not dancing?" Kurt asked, annoyed. "It's a musical, dancing's involved."

"Kurt, I can't dance."

"If we're casting you as Beauty, you're going to have to dance a little bit." Kurt said, stretching his arms out in front of him. He was lying on his stomach uncomfortably, but it was the only thing he could think of when Annie came downstairs.

"What are you doing?" Annie asked, looking at him.

"Stretching."

"On your stomach?" She asked, going back to pulling down sketches. "Why is the evil stepmother's costume pretty?"

"Because it's like Snow White instead of Sleeping Beauty, the elegant evil queen." He said, crooking his leg and trying to pull a pillow to himself awkwardly. Annie shot him an even stranger look.

"I always forget she was pretty, I just think of the hag." She said. Kurt continued to kick at the pillow, trying to get it in reach of his hands. "Really, what are you doing?"

"Nothing." Kurt said, grabbing the pillow and covering himself indiscreetly as he rolled over on his back.

"OH! KURT! GROSS!" Annie exclaimed, dropping the papers.

"Sorry? You're the one who just _had_ to come down in my room while I was on the phone."

"I wasn't aware that I was walking in on _phone sex!_" Annie said, shivering dramatically.

"You weren't! We were just talking." Kurt said, frowning and sitting up, the pillow still on his crotch.

"If that's just talking, I'm not standing between you two all summer." Annie said, throwing up her hands before beginning to pick up the papers. "Have you put any thought into what you're wearing to the sleepover tonight?" She asked.

"It's a sleepover. I was kind of expecting to go as-is. Rachel did tell you that the pajama dress-code is footie pajamas, right?"

"…Yes." Annie said, rolling her eyes. "And fine, I suppose your friends aren't good enough for the presence of your best outfits when you have a _boyfriend_." She said, getting the last of the papers and leaving his room.

Kurt sighed and stood up, groaning. He might as well put together a good outfit if Annie was going to be a nag, and he wanted to make them all jealous of Blaine's bracelet, anyway. He remembered the weathercast predicting rain all day, and that meant one thing: _skinny jeans_.

"You ready to go to Rachel's?" Annie asked, coming into the living room at nine in the evening. Kurt was sitting with his sketchbook as Burt watched a baseball game.

"Yeah," he said, shutting the sketchbook and grabbing his keys.

"Dad, we're gonna go." He said. Burt waved an arm at him.

"Have a good time, kids." He said, and they walked out to the Escalade, throwing their bags down in the backseat.

"You look particularly nice." He said, glancing over Annie. She was wearing a white skirt and a black lace shirt over a black camisole with pointed toe flats. She shrugged.

"I never get a chance to dress up, thought a sleepover would be enough of an occasion." She said, climbing into the passenger seat. She pulled down the mirror and reached into her little black purse, pulling out a lipstick.

"Okay, really? No boys except me, you know." He said, rolling his eyes and getting in the driver's seat and starting to back them out of the driveway.

"I know. But a girl's never fully dressed without her lipstick." She said.

"I thought that was a smile?"

"That, too." Annie said. "You look nice, too, you know."

"I thought I'd give you ladies a display." Kurt said with a smile. He was wearing a very fitted short-sleeve white button-up t-shirt with the long tie Blaine had given him and the bracelet.

He drove the three blocks to Rachel's and parked in the driveway. He and Annie grabbed their bags, walking up to the door and ringing the bell.

"Hey!" Rachel said, appearing at the door. She was wearing a black dress with poofy sleeves and a sweetheart neckline, no leg warmers. Kurt looked from her to Annie, confused.

"Is it dress up day or something?" Kurt asked, almost more amused at their matching color scheme.

"Come on, Mercedes is down in the basement." Rachel said, taking Kurt's hand and leading him swiftly down the stairs. Kurt turned back to Annie in confusion, but she nodded for him to look forward. He turned around to see the basement filled with his friends.

"SURPRISE!" They yelled, and Kurt let out a scream that almost sounded like a chicken.

"What?" He asked, looking in shock around the group. Finn, Puck, Lauren and Sam were standing to one side; Santana, Brittany and a disgruntled looking Quinn on the other; and right in the middle were Mercedes, Tina, Mike and…

"Blaine, what are you doing here?" He asked, blinking.

"As opposed to the other nine people you weren't expecting?" Blaine asked, cocking his head to the side.

"And you… this is what you were doing, and I…" He said guilty, looking at Finn. Finn stepped forward and clapped him on the shoulder.

"I'll let you by on that one." He said, and one by one everyone started coming up and giving him a thump on the back or a hug, though Blaine stood over by the side. Kurt glanced over at him and Blaine winked.

"So… what's going on here?" He asked, to everyone's amusement.

"That would be a surprise party, dummy." Blaine called from across the room, and Kurt rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at him.

"I mean, where are your dads?" He asked Rachel.

"New York, doing some lobbying."

"Where did you all _park?_"

"The church around the corner. We told the watchman that we were having a surprise party and he said he'd keep an eye on the cars." Mercedes said.

"Right. And no one's driving tonight, either. You drink, you stay in this basement. No exceptions. Kurt, put your keys in the bowl, and I'm going to lock them all up in my room." Rachel said, and just ask Kurt handed over his keys, Puck started pulling several bottles of liquor and soda as well as six packs of beer up from the floor and putting them on the counter.

"Party's on!" Puck yelled, and Brittany ran over to the stereo as Rachel took the bowl of keys upstairs. Annie made her way over to Mercedes and Tina, and like a phantom Blaine popped up beside Kurt.

"You're not going to want to wear this around this crew drunk." Blaine said, taking hold of Kurt's tie.

"True," Kurt admitted.

"But first…" Blaine whispered, and tugged on the tie lightly, pulling Kurt's lips down to his. Kurt moaned, and Blaine took his lips off of Kurt's, smiling deviously as he worked his fingers in and undid the knot in his boyfriend's tie, sliding it off.

"Here, put this in your bag. I'll go make drinks." Blaine said, stopping by to give Annie a hand squeeze hello on his way over to the counter.

Mercedes came over while Kurt waited on Blaine, a drink already in her hand.

"Hey, boo. You ready for this?" She asked, smiling.

"Mercedes, I've been drunk once in my life, and I think I scared Miss Pillsbury to death." He said, wincing.

"Everything scares Miss Pillsbury to death. And that wasn't fun drunk, that was batshit crazy April Rhodes drunk."

"Mercedes, I thought she was Bambi." Kurt groaned.

"You thought who was Bambi?" Blaine asked, stepping up beside him with two drinks.

"Miss Pillsbury, the guidance counselor. Long story short, I was drunk."

"Red headed lady, right? She's nice, why don't we have her judging Wedneseday?" Blaine asked.

"She is." Rachel said, coming up behind them. "Coach Beiste said no at first, so I thought of Miss Pillsbury and called her. Then Coach Beiste called back and told me that she had moved football practice so she could, and I couldn't tell either of them that we don't need them anymore, so now we have four judges." Rachel said.

"We can't have four judges, that's an even number." Kurt said.

"We can put one of us on the panel whenever a part comes up that we don't want." Annie said, joining in the little group.

"That would work." Rachel said, but before she could go on, the doorbell rang. "That'll be Artie, he said he'd be late."

Annie glanced up sharply at Rachel's comment, and Puck gestured to Finn and they walked upstairs.

"What are you guys doing?" Kurt asked, confused.

"We've gotta help ol' Art down the stairs!" Puck said, and he and Finn lumbered up the stairs. They reappeared a few seconds later, Finn carrying the chair and Puck carrying Artie, setting him back up at the bottom of the stairs. Annie zoned out of the continued discussion of who would judge what parts, and when Puck gave Artie a big whack on the back and walked away, she scooted her way out of the group and forward to him.

"Arthur!" She said, stopping a little bit in front of him.

"What did she just call him?" Kurt heard Brittany ask. Artie froze at the sound of her voice, turning slowly to look at her.

"It's his full name." Santana said.

"Oh, I thought he was named after the beef place."

"That's Ardy's."

"Annie Shriver?" Artie asked, looking up at her. She nodded, smiling, before quickly walking up and giving him a hug. "Annie, look at you, I haven't seen you in years!" He said.

"I know, I'm staying the summer with Kurt's family." Annie said, wheeling him over to the counter.

Kurt felt Blaine pressing the drink into his arm and took his attention off his cousin.

"What's in this?" He asked, taking the glass hesitantly.

"Vanilla flavored vodka and rootbeer." Blaine said, swishing his around a bit and taking a drink.

"Okay…" Kurt said, hesitantly holding the glass up to his lip and taking a sip. Not bad.

"You don't have to drink it if you don't want to…" Blaine said, putting his hand on Kurt's arm. Kurt shrugged and took another drink.

"Just keep me from calling people Disney characters, okay?" Kurt joked, and Blaine smiled, taking a long sip.

"Who is she?" Blaine heard Brittany ask Santana a long while later, and looked to see her pointing at Annie, who was pouring Artie another drink. They had been at the party for over an hour, and Kurt and Blaine were both on their second drink, this time apple flavored vodka and mountain dew.

"I don't know, she came here with Kurt." Santana answered. "Hey! Kurt! Who's Dorothy Gale over there?"

"That's my cousin Annie. She used to live next door to Artie."

"Oh." Brittany said, her fingers clenching around her drink. "I'm gonna go dance."

"Britt…" Santana said, her voice worried, but Brittany was already climbing up onto the counter where she had danced before.

"Brittany, you want some better music for that, Baby?" Puck yelled out, and Brittany turned around and winked. The music changed, and _Hold It Against Me_ started to play. Kurt turned to Artie and Annie, the former nearly dropping the drink Annie was handing him as he watched Brittany begin to dance. He finally took the drink and wheeled himself toward where Brittany was already taking her shirt off.

"Who's the slut?" Annie asked, coming up behind Kurt and Blaine, and both of them turned to her.

"Arties ex-girlfriend, Brittany." Kurt said. Annie blinked in shock.

"_That's_ Artie's ex?" She whispered, and Kurt nodded.

"I don't understand it any more than you do, but there it is." Kurt said.

"Hey, Chelsea Clinton." Santana said, stepping up to the three. "Do you have eyes on Steven Hawking over there?" She asked harshly.

"No, of course not. We were friends when I lived here." She explained. Santana nodded.

"You might want to tell her that so she can go back to getting the hell over him." Santana said.

"You seem to have a personal investment in this, Santana." Kurt said.

"Yeah, Four-Eyes decided to call my best friend names when he was dating her. That's kind of a personal investment." Santana said harshly. Blaine blinked and allowed his eyes to drift to the taller girl.

"Somebody get me another drink!" Brittany called out from her place dancing, and Mike hurried to do so, to Tina's obvious dismay.

Santana settled her eyes on Annie, taking in her appearance.

"You're Kurt's cousin, I better be nice. I'm Santana Lopez. That's my friend Brittany Pearce." Santana said, holding out her hand.

"Annie Shriver, Kurt's cousin." Annie said, shaking Santana's hand.

"Santana, come dance with me!" Brittany said loudly, and Santana looked up.

"She's already downed half the glass." Santana said with a gasp, and Blaine realized just how drunk the blonde girl was.

"How much has she had already?" Annie asked, looking up at her.

"Three." Santana said. "Shit. Brittany, no, come down from there…" She said, running over to where Brittany was dancing. "Britt, you're drinking that too fast…"

As the Hispanic girl ran away from them, Blaine turned to Kurt.

"Does Santana…?"

"We think so." Kurt said, taking another drink. Blaine cocked his head and looked at her.

"Your friends are the most colorful people." He said, a smile on his face. "I love it."

"You're clearly in need of another drink." Kurt said, glancing at the bottom of Blaine's glass. The older boy smirked at him, and with quick smiles at Annie they walked over to the liquor.

Blaine started to pour his drink, and as he poured the alcohol in as well, Kurt nudged him.

"Shit, look." He said, and Blaine accidentally let a little more pour in than he intended to. He capped the bottle and looked up to see that Puck had walked up to Annie and put his arm around her. He put the bottle down and picked up his drink, his ears tuning in to Puck's booming voice.

"…I didn't even recognize you until Santana said who you were."

"Hi, Noah." Annie said, giving Kurt and Blaine an S.O.S. look. "Nice hair."

"The Mohawk does me good." Puck said, smiling. "You have yourself a boyfriend yet, Annie?"

"No, but I hear you have a girlfriend." Annie said sharply. Puck laughed.

"Still as much of a prude as ever." He said, and Annie's face looked lethal.

"Hey, Puck, what's up, man?" Blaine said as he and Kurt returned, taking a drink and cringing at how strong his drink was.

"Hey what's up?" Puck said, taking his arm off Annie. "Kurt," he said, turning to the other boy, "are you getting drunk tonight, dude?" Kurt gave him an incredibly fake smile and raised his glass. Annie took the opportunity of being free from Puck's grasp to circle around quickly and stand slightly behind Blaine.

"Ugh I see he still thinks he's as bad of news as ever." Annie muttered in Blaine's ear. He smiled.

"He still has no idea who I am, other than Kurt's boyfriend. Probably better that way."

"He called me Claire once in third grade. And when he figured out that wasn't my name, he set about trying to kiss me." Annie said with a sigh. "He kept bothering me all the way up until I moved."

"Sounds like someone had a crush." Blaine said, his lips tilting upward. Annie shook her head.

"Sounds like someone can't resist a challenge." She said darkly, and right then Rachel popped up in the group.

"Annieeeeee come sing with me!" She exclaimed, taking Annie's hand. Annie's eyes shot open. "Finn won't sing with me, and Kurt won't let Blaine after what happened last time I just know it, and I want to siiiiiing!"

Blaine tried to keep from giggling and stepped back, pushing Annie out in front of him.

"Why don't you sing alone, Rachel?" Annie asked, taking another drink to hide her grimace.

"You can't sing alone at a partyyyy!" Rachel said, putting her arm around Annie's shoulders. "Come on, sing please."

"Yeah, Annie, go sing with her!" Blaine said.

"I'm _so_ not drunk enough for this right now" Annie grumbled, and Blaine swiftly traded their drinks.

"Here."

Annie took a sip and nearly gagged.

"Blaine, how much did you?"

"Take a few more drinks and have fun singing!" Blaine said, wiggling his fingers at her.

"Annie, will you?" Rachel asked, and Annie took two large gulps.

"Yeah, let's." She said with a little smile and walked with Rachel up to the stage.

"Why'd you trade drinks?" Kurt said, coming up behind him and putting his chin on Blaine's shoulder.

"Mine was stronger." Blaine said, taking a drink of Annie's vanilla vodka and Dr. Pepper.

"You're getting my cousin drunk?" Kurt asked with a grin, snuggling his face into Blaine's shoulder.

"I think she needed it." Blaine said, glancing around to see that Puck had gone to shut the music off. As soon as the music ended, Brittany started yelling.

"Where's the music? I need the music back!" She yelled as Santana continued to try to get her off the counter.

"Heyyyyy everyone, Annie and I are going to sing!" Rachel said, her arm still around Annie's shoulder. "Annie and I were reallllyyy good friends when she lived here, and we used to sing alllll the time!"

Finn stepped up beside Kurt and Blaine, a blank look on his face and a beer in his hand.

"How much did you let her drink?" Kurt asked, taking a drink that finished off his glass.

"She just finished her third, but I couldn't get her to stop drinking them with a straw." Finn said, grimacing.

"I just finished my second. Blaine, I need more to drink." Kurt said into Blaine's shoulder. Blaine turned and wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist, and the two went up and started making Kurt's third drink.

"This song is because we're classsssy ladies!" Rachel said, and Blaine could see the drunken blush on Annie's cheeks as she took a last drink and set the cup down, stumbling back with the silver sparkly microphone Rachel had handed her. Rachel, pink microphone in hand, signaled and Puck turned on the instrumental for "I Do Not Hook Up".

"Kelly Clarkson? Interesting choice." Blaine said, pouring some vodka into Kurt's glass.

"Well with the way Rachel's been acting lately, she doesn't get to sing 'Miss Independent'." Kurt said, taking a drink of his freshly made drink. Blaine made himself one less strong than the one he had handed off to Annie while the two girls started to sing.

A few hours and a few more drinks later, Kurt and Blaine were dancing on one side of the room, their bodies flushed against each other in a way they had never danced, positively lewd compared to how they had danced at prom.

Okay, maybe it was just lewd in general.

Santana had managed to pull a crying Brittany down from the counter while Rachel and Annie had been singing, and after a while of drying the blonde girl's tears they were now sitting on the sofa, Brittany's legs thrown over Santana's as the brunette stroked Brittany's hair, Quinn sitting at the end of the sofa. Puck and Lauren were making out in the corner. Finn was sitting against the wall, another beer in hand. Tina and Mike were making out in another corner. Sam was standing against the wall opposite Finn. Rachel, Mercedes and Annie were dancing a short way from Kurt and Blaine.

Blaine moaned as Kurt wriggled his backside into Blaine, the older boy's fingers curling into Kurt's hips.

"How are you even moving like that?" Blaine asked, and Kurt turned around in his arms and sloppily kissed Blaine, his hips still rocking in time with the music. Blaine moaned and pulled Kurt to him, kissing back just as sloppily and tugging at his lips.

"Dude, can we throw a party without that kid making out with someone?" Blaine heard Puck yell, and smiled against Kurt's lips.

"A little hypocritical, don't you think, Puckerman?" Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I didn't make out with anyone last time." Puck said, and Quinn rolled her eyes. Blaine tried to stop kissing Kurt, but the younger boy held Blaine's face forcefully, and how could Blaine say no to that?

"You and Dumbo have been all over each other for about as long as we've been here. Let them get at it if they want!" Santana said. "Just keep it PG-13." She warned.

"Fuck you, Santana." Lauren yelled, and Kurt and Blaine opened their eyes to show their slightly afraid looks, though they smiled when they realized that neither of them was going to stop kissing.

"I'm out of here." Quinn said, standing up.

"You can't leeeeave, you've been drinking." Rachel said, no longer dancing. The boys stopped kissing, watching the two girls.

"I'll be careful. Just give me the keys." Quinn said, holding out her hand as though Rachel had them right there. The brunette shook her head.

"No way."

"I've only had one drink. Just give them to me. I didn't want to come to this stupid party in the first place." She said, shooting an angry look at Santana and Brittany. Kurt pursed his lips.

"You're not driiiving, Quinn!"

"Yeah," Finn said, standing up. "Quinn you can't drive."

"Oh, what do either of _you _care?" Quinn shot out, crossing her arms angrily.

"Just because we're dating doesn't mean I don't care if something happens to you." Finn said, his voice growing softer. Blaine saw Rachel's eyes fall.

"Shit." Kurt said, and Blaine knew this was going in a similar direction.

"You two can't stop me if I want to go. I want to get out of here!" Quinn yelled, but Rachel lifted her eyes back up, her face steely.

"Yes we caaaan, by not giving you your keysss. And we're not going to." Rachel said. "Mr. Shue had us pledge we wouldn't drink before Naaaationals. It's after Naationals now, but the reason behind it is the saame." Rachel said.

"Screw you, Rachel. I want to leave, and your self-righteous spew about school isn't going to stop me."

"You have a lot of nerve to call her self-righteous!" Kurt yelled, and Blaine took hold of his arm in case he had any ideas of storming over there.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Quinn said, turning to him wildly.

"It means," Kurt said, stepping forward and swinging his arm to try to release himself from Blaine's hold, "that you've had a _baby_ Miss Jesus." The eyes of every single person in the room grew wider at Kurt calling Quinn out about this.

"Leave her alone about that." Puck said, walking forward.

"JUST STOP!" Rachel yelled, her face panic-stricken. "Everyone just stop!" She said, biting her lip as Quinn began to cry. Puck walked up to her and tried to cup a hand around her elbow, but she threw him off.

"Thanks, Rachel. I'm _so_ happy to be stuck here where obviously no one wants me." Quinn said, looking at Rachel dead on.

"Britt, sit up." Santana said, and when she did Santana stood up and hugged Quinn around the waist. "Come sit back down with us." She said, and Quinn's resistance flagged as Santana brought her back down. Santana sat in the middle this time, with Brittany leaning on one side and Quinn on the other.

"You can all go back to your fucking business now." Santana said harshly, and everyone quickly looked away. Both Rachel and Annie walked up to Kurt and Blaine, while Mercedes went over to sit with Sam.

"What was that all about?" Annie asked Kurt. He shook his head and put an arm around Rachel.

"She's Finn's ex-girlfriend." Blaine tried to explain quietly, though he didn't really understand it either. "From what I get, she had Puck's baby."

"Do you think he still loooves her?" Rachel asked Kurt quietly, curling her face into his chest. Kurt kissed her on the top of her head.

"No, but he cares. It's Finn. He cares about everyone." Kurt said softly. Rachel sighed.

"That's why I love himmm, but sometimes I think he only loooves me as much as everyone else." Rachel said. Annie reached over and hugged Rachel as well, and Blaine joined in, too. Rachel giggled, wiping her eye.

"We've gotcha." Kurt said, ruffling her hair. "Now get back over there, because you know he's not going to think he did anything wrong." He said, giving Rachel another hug before she walked back over to Finn.

"Too much drama." Annie said, shaking her head. "I think it's almost about time for bed. Rachel?" She called, and the brunette turned back to her. "Do you have a pitcher I can put some water in?" She asked. Rachel went to help her find one, and Annie began distributing glasses of water to everyone around the room.

"What's this for?" Kurt asked groggily, sitting on the floor and stroking Blaine's curls.

"So you don't get sick." Annie said, pressing the water to him and pouring another one for Blaine.

"I wish we had known about this during the school year." Kurt muttered, taking a drink.

"I wish I had known that drunk kissing you is like a billion times better than drunk kissing Rachel." Blaine said, taking a drink as well. "But sober kissing is, too. But drunk kissing is like… really awesome, too. I just like kissing you. Because kissing you is like, the most completely awesome…"

"Shut him up." Annie said, rolling her eyes and turning away. Kurt grinned and happily put his lips on Blaine's.

Blaine woke up to the sound of people walking around. He rubbed his eyes and smiled to see that he and Kurt were curled up together on the ground where they had fallen asleep.

"Psst, Blaine, are you awake?" He heard someone whisper, and sat up to see Annie sitting just a little ways away. He nodded.

"Rachel just went to go get the angry blonde girl her keys, and the boys just took Artie upstairs. What time do you have to leave?"

"Umm, no later than ten, probably." He said, putting his elbows on his knees. He glanced backward to see Kurt, still sleeping peacefully, his cheek squishy and flat against the short carpet of the basement. It was _adorable_.

"It's nine now." Annie said, and Blaine nodded. His headache wasn't nearly as bad as the last time he had drank this much… which happened to be in this very basement. He looked at the glass of water sitting beside him. _Probably why._

"Here." Rachel said quietly, arriving at the bottom of the stairs with a pile of granola bars and some other snacks. She sat down next to Blaine and Annie, Mercedes, Puck, Finn and Brittany joined her around the food. Blaine kept stealing glances at Kurt, and smiled when he saw the younger boy's blue eyes flutter open. He turned around, crouching down next to him.

"Good morning." Blaine said quietly, and Kurt opened his eyes and smiled. Blaine leaned down and pressed his lips against Kurt's, his chest flush against the floor.

"Does this mean my birthday's all the way over now?" Kurt asked, and Blaine grinned.

"Yup." Blaine said, stroking the back of two fingers down the side of Kurt's face.

"Good, I was getting tired of it."

**Author's Note: There you have it, new chapter! Hopefully this was as much of a surprise for you guys as it was Kurt :) Also, a little shout-out to those of you who comment on almost every chapter. You guys make me smile (and one of you in particular always makes me laugh). I'm starting work on a Ron-Hermione Harry Potter fic that will hopefully be up soon, so by the time I post the next chapter, check my profile if you're interested in it :) Next chapter is musical auditions, I'm really excited!**


	14. Chapter 14: Casting

"Where the hell is Blaine?" Annie asked, stepping up beside Kurt as he distributed fresh notebooks and pens on the table in front of all four casting seats.

"He had to wait for the rest of the Warblers since he's heading off their little caravan. He should be here soon." Kurt said, glancing up at his cousin.

"Well he better be, because I don't want to be the one to explain why we don't have scripts for people to read." Annie said, her fingers tightening on her stack of character descriptions.

"Relax. He'll get here. And we all agreed to wait for the casting to assign the songs, so don't worry about it." Kurt said, taking four of her sheets of paper and putting them on top of the notebooks.

"Yes, but I haven't met most of these people, and I don't want to make a bad first impression." Annie said.

"They've seen stupider, they teach at McKinley. Exhibit A." He said, as Finn bounded up the stairs on the stage and slid on his knees, air guitaring.

"Still." Annie said, pouting.

"Hey, Kurt." Mr. Shuester said, coming up the aisle behind where they stood. "Umm, hi. I'm Will Shuester, the choral director." He said, addressing Annie, reaching his hand out to shake.

"Annie Shriver, Kurt's cousin." Annie said, shaking the proffered hand. Mr. Shuester nodded.

"Nice to meet you, Annie. Which one of these seats is mine?" He asked Kurt, who nodded at one of the two in the middle. "Awesome!" He said, sitting down in the seat. "This is a really neat project you guys came up with, hopefully you can raise most of the money we need for Nationals this year."

Kurt's phone beeped, and he opened it before looking at Annie.

"Blaine's in the parking lot if you want to go berate him. Just don't hit him or anything." He said, and his cousin scampered off as Kurt saw Miss Pillsbury walk in and hurried away to get Finn off the stage, allowing them to be alone.

Blaine stepped out of his car, slinging his guitar case over his shoulder, as the other Warbler cars pulled into the parking lot. He looked up to see Annie, not Kurt, striding through the door and out to him.

"About freaking time." She called out to him. Blaine groaned and walked up to her, apologizing for being late.

"Dude, who's the girl who has Blaine in a kowtow?" He heard Wes ask.

"I dunno, but look at her, she looks like Kurt." David answered.

"Hey Anderson! You don't have your boyfriend in drag, do you?" Jeff called out, punctuated by an oof. Blaine turned to see that Nick had elbowed him in the stomach.

"This is Kurt's cousin, Annie." Blaine said, as Kurt walked out of the school behind her. Wes stepped forward, smiling at her.

"You don't look like an orphan. What's your full name, Annie?" He asked.

"Anna Elisa Shriver." She said, raising her chin.

"Name like that and looks like those… are you German?" He said. Blaine looked confused, but she smirked.

"I don't speak German, but I can if you like."

"OW!" Kurt finished off the lyrics, pointing into the sky as he stepped forward. Blaine gave an appreciative laugh and Wes smirked.

"Nice to meet you, Anna Elisa Shriver. Wesley Michael Montgomery." He said, holding his hand out for her to shake.

"Enough with your bullshit, Wes." David said as Annie shook his hand. "What's up, Kurt?" He said, pulling Kurt into a hug. Kurt greeted all the Warblers, who hadn't seen him in over a month.

"Alright, everyone get one of these papers from Annie." He directed. "Have you guys chosen how we're going to repay you for taking part in this?"

"Yes, we have." Blaine said with a smirk. Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"The Warblers," Wes began with a smirk, "have elected that the New Directions pay for the cast party, which we will hold at Warbler Jeff's house, since his parents are planning to be gone for the entire month of July."

"Really?" Kurt asked, craning his neck. Jeff gave a little nod.

"So do the New Directions accept?" Wes said with a smirk.

"You'll have to run it by Rachel and Finn since they're captains, but I think there's a high chance of approval."

"Sweet." Jeff said, taking a paper from Annie.

"Mark down your preferences in order and put your name on the paper. If you don't want to be considered for one of the parts, don't mark it. You'll turn the paper in when you audition. If you want to be in the chorus, just write that down and give it to Kurt and you won't have to audition." Annie said, handing papers out to the Warblers. Kurt rolled his eyes when he found nine papers in his hands.

"I see nothing's changed." He said, sliding the papers back into his hands and crooking his head, leading them all inside. Rachel had assembled the New Directions in the rows in front of the judges, and Kurt gestured for the Warblers to join them.

"So who's talking?" Kurt asked Rachel as he, Blaine and Annie reached her at the bottom of the auditorium. She shrugged.

"Blaine, do you and Annie want to speak, since you guys wrote it?" Kurt's mouth dropped open at Rachel deflecting, and she didn't miss his reaction. "I was thinking of auditioning first, to show how it's done."

"More like intimidate mercilessly." Kurt said, examining his fingernails. Rachel put on a fake innocent look.

"Yeah, we'll talk." Blaine said. "If Annie's up for it." He said, looking down at Annie. Kurt could see in his expression that he was relishing the fact that he had someone other than Rachel around who was shorter than him.

"Game on, Anderson." Annie said, raising her eyebrows. The two walked up to the stage and called the room to attention. Looking out, Blaine saw that the four adult judges were all seated, all talking amiably except that one lady who always wore tracksuits.

"Warblers, New Directions and judges, thank you all for coming today." Blaine said, instantly regretting using 'New Directions' without an article. "Since I'm dating the common link between these two choirs, almost everyone in this room knows that I'm Blaine Anderson of the Dalton Academy Warblers. This is Annie Shriver, Kurt's cousin." He said, not even bothering to use a last name for Kurt, as he was known by _literally_ every person in the room, whereas Blaine wasn't on familiar terms with the adults.

"Hi." Annie said, taking the mic. "Like Blaine said, I'm Annie. As you guys know, along with my cousin Kurt, Rachel Berry and Mercedes Jones, we're here because some of us have put together a musical. And, no, we don't really have a name for it yet." She said, rolling her eyes. "But we are ready to cast the parts and really move forward. On the papers you should all have, you'll see a list of the parts and a small description."

"The script isn't finalized," Blaine said, as a way to cover up that the only thing they had was the list in front of everyone's eyes. "We'll be adjusting the parts around those who are casted."

"So, in case you haven't already, put numbers next to the parts you want, in order of most to least. If you don't want a part, don't mark it. You'll hand it to one of us as you go up to audition, and it will be used in the casting process." Annie continued.

"Also, write any experience you have in theater or choir." He made a 'duh' face, "At the bottom of the sheet. We'll confer over lunch and meet for callbacks and consultations in the choir room once we're done conferring. The cast list will be posted at the end of the day, and the first read-through will be noon Friday at Rachel Berry's house. Warblers, I'll lead a caravan again."

"Okay! So here's the audition process. We've asked each of you to prepare a short monologue, and you'll come up and perform it, followed by a song of your choice. Since this musical is going to be found-music, the more it fits the character you want, the better chance you have!"

"Rachel Berry, you're up first!" Blaine said, putting Rachel's pink sparkly microphone back in the mic stand and leading Annie off the stage. Kurt nodded his head toward the judging table and Blaine made a face and took a seat, writing down the information from Rachel's seat. He smirked as he went ahead and copied in her little star next to her name.

**Rachel Barbara Berry **

**Senior**

**Choices: Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty.**

**Experience: Holy shit, I'm not listing all of that. God damn, Rachel.**

**Song Choice: **

**Thoughts:**

He waited to see what she would sing, pen bouncing on his finger as he waited.

"My name is Rachel Barbara Berry, and I will be reciting Scarlett O'Hara's monologue at Tara from _Gone With the Wind_ and singing 'Don't Rain on My Parade'." Rachel said, a glint in her eye. At the monologue listing, Blaine whipped his head sideways, and saw that the choir teacher looked surprised as well. He turned around in his seat to look at Kurt, who shrugged and pushed Blaine to look back at the stage.

Rachel began the monologue, and Blaine was locked. He had never seen Rachel act before, and he had been drunk two of the four times he had seen Rachel sing (not to mention, she had been, too). The monologue was short, but Blaine was fairly certain that no one else he knew could pull it off so honestly. When she was done, he had only one thing to mark.

**Thoughts: Rachel, please remember me when you're famous.**

He looked back up as she began to sing, and Kurt leaned forward in his seat so that he could whisper in Blaine's ear.

"She sang this at Sectionals freshman year." Kurt whispered, admiringly. "She saved the day."

Blaine nodded, watching his friend perform. When she was done she smiled up at the judging table, thanked them, and left the stage. Blaine wrote down only one more thing on her page before closing the notebook and moving back to the back row.

**#TeamRachel**

Finn came up to them next, handing them his piece of paper, marked with all the male parts. Mercedes took the seat at the judging table, flipping the notebook open to a blank page.

"Hey, I'm Finn Hudson." He said, not bothering to say more.

"I'd like to, I'd like to say a few words that I've prepared tonight." He fumbled the words out, the pain of memorization contorting his face. "Hello. How about that ride in? I guess that's why they call it Sin City. You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner." He continued. Blaine, Kurt, Rachel and Annie looked at each other in horror.

"Is he really doing something from _The Hangover_?" Rachel asked, her face falling blank. Blaine put a hand on her shoulder. Finn finished and began to sing "Jack and Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp.

"Rachel, are you okay, Sweetie?" Kurt asked hesitantly, leaning over Blaine to see her. Blaine was still awkwardly patting her back as she hid her face in her hands.

Finn finished singing and Rachel sat back up, trying to look like everything was fine. Finn shot her a big double thumbs-up that she returned with a smile that looked more like a grimace.

To Kurt's further horror, the next person to get up to audition was Wes. He smoothly performed a monologue from _A Streetcar Named Desire_, followed by "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt. It was professional, polished, captivating… everything that Finn's audition hadn't been.

Brittany followed up Wes, and was succeeded by Kurt, Sam, Annie, Puck, David, Tina and Jeff. Just as Artie was beginning to head for the ramp, the door of the auditorium opened. Blaine turned around to see an Asian girl he'd never seen before.

"Sorry I'm late, but Rachel I got your text." The girl said, as the rest of the New Directions looked over at Rachel in shock. Rachel turned around in the judging chair and looked at the girl, a smile plastered on her face in attempt to mask clear reservations.

"Glad you could make it, Sunshine. Annie will explain the audition sheet to you." She said, and Annie stood up and took Sunshine over to the side of the auditorium, explaining it to her.

"She's on Vocal Adrenaline. She was a foreign exchange student here, but Rachel sent her to a crack house and she left and ended up on our rival club." Kurt whispered in Blaine's ear. Blaine frowned at Kurt's words.

"Oh, for the love of God, Kurt." Rachel said, turning around sharply. She turned to Blaine. "I wrote her a fake address. I didn't know it was a crack house." She said, guilt washing into the end of her words. Blaine's eyebrows raised on their own accord as he tried not to laugh.

Artie went on to perform, and when he was done a few others performed.

"I'll go next." Blaine said, picking up his guitar case and walking to the stage.

"Like I've said, I'm Blaine Anderson, and I'll be performing Willy Loman's monologue from "Death of a Salesman" and singing "Falling For You" by Colbie Caillait." He said, winking at Kurt.

He began to perform the monologue, and Rachel dropped her pen. When he finished with the monologue and started in on the song, he looked up to see Kurt sitting upright with a hand over his mouth in the way he always did when he was trying not to squeal.

He finished, and Rachel turned back to Kurt.

"Why didn't he put Prince Charming as his first choice?" Rachel asked accusingly, pointing to a little "1" next to the listing for the bear prince.

"Because I'm going to be Snow White." Kurt said, bouncing in his seat. Rachel scowled.

"I'd be a lot more comfortable playing against him than any of those other Warbler boys, now that Finn blew it." She bit out. Kurt shrugged unapologetically.

"Mine. Make a new friend?" He suggested. Blaine came up and Kurt stood up with little claps, flinging his arms around Blaine's shoulders and kissing his boyfriend's smiling lips.

"I haven't seen you play the guitar since I was at Dalton!" He said, and Blaine smiled.

"Honestly, I haven't played it much since you were at Dalton." He said, taking Kurt's hand and starting to sit down. Right then a blonde figure charged into the room, stopping in front of the judging table.

"Give me one of those papers, Berry. And I want Kurt's boyfriend to judge me." Quinn said, sharply. Blaine had realized that she wasn't with the other members of New Directions, but he thought it was a statement after what happened at the party. Maybe it still was.

Rachel handed her a paper, and Quinn quickly put her name on the paper and circled the part of Cinderella before basically throwing it back at Rachel and striding to the stage. Blaine and Rachel quickly traded places.

She started into a monologue delivered by Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, followed by "Tainted Love". It was overall, only mildly impressive.

It had nothing on Rachel's audition.

**Thoughts: I think she needs to consider a different part.**

After Quinn left the stage and subsequently the building, Sunshine took the stage with a perplexed look on her face. Blaine judged her as well, though it wasn't until halfway through her song that he remembered to take notes. Listening to her sing "Take My Breath Away", Blaine could understand why Rachel felt threatened by her. He looked down at her sheet and saw that she had only circled the part of Wendy.

Sunshine finished and Blaine traded seats with Annie so she could be the one to score Mercedes. Halfway through Mercedes' song, the door swung open again with a resounding crash.

"Hell to the no, you will respect me when I'm singing." Mercedes yelled up to the silhouette in the doorway. Blaine turned around to see who was in the door and vaguely made out that it was the guy Kurt had been so mad Rachel took took to prom.

"Relax, Aretha, show goes on, remember?" The boy in the leather jacket said. Blaine looked at Kurt, who looked furious, and Rachel, who looked like she wanted to become invisible. Mercedes resumed singing, but the boy walked up to them.

"Rachel." He said, stopping in front of her. She put a hand over her face like a shield, and Blaine saw Finn stand up at the front of the auditorium. This couldn't be good.

"What are you doing here, Jesse?" Kurt asked viciously as Finn made his way up the aisle. Blaine could see that for their part, all five judges were intently continuing to take notes on Mercedes' performance.

"I came to audition for your play, Girl Voice." Jesse said, and Blaine glowered.

"Sorry, Jesse." Finn said, reaching them. "It's not an open audition."

"Really, because that's not what my friend Sunshine said." Jesse said, waving at the Asian girl. Kurt, Blaine, Rachel and Finn all turned to her in shock.

"He said he's a friend of Rachel's and to let him know if I hang out with you guys." She said, shrugging. Kurt facepalmed.

"No one wants you here, Jesse." Finn said, crossing his arms.

"Too bad." Jesse said, taking an audition sheet and filling it out. His list of experience was almost as long as Rachel's, and Kurt bent forward, looking at it and frowning.

"If you flunked out of UCLA, why are you saying that you're on their fall musical cast?" Kurt said, looking up at him sharply.

"Because I didn't actually fail out, peewee." Jesse said, taking a deep breath and handing the paper to Annie. Mercedes had finished, grumbling as she walked up to the small assembly behind the judging table. "I thought being a moron got you something around here." He said, looking Finn up and down and walking up to the stage.

"My name is Jesse St. James, and I'll be auditioning for the part of Prince Charming."

"Thanks, Miss Pillsbury." Rachel said as the last of the adult judges handed her the forms and walked away from the choir room. Rachel came and joined the rest of them on the floor, passing everyone their own play notebook. She then gave everyone one of the judging notebooks: Coach Beiste's to Mercedes, Miss Pillsbury's to Annie, Mr. Shuester's to Blaine, Coach Sylvester's to Kurt, and she kept their own.

Taking the notebook from Rachel's hands, Annie cocked her head at the boys. Blaine was sitting in Kurt's lap, both of them sitting with their legs crossed.

"I don't know how much you two know about straight boys, but they don't sit like that." She said. Blaine made a shushing gesture with one finger and Kurt rolled his eyes and pressed a kiss on Blaine's shoulder. Rachel and Mercedes looked at each other and back to the boys, confused.

"We're not practicing right now, Annie." Kurt said, reaching up and making one of Blaine's curls spring up and down as he pulled it straight and released it.

"Share with the class?" Mercedes asked.

"We're having dinner at Blaine's Sunday. So we kind of need to figure out how to look like we're not dating, because it totally didn't work with his little sister." Kurt explained.

"Well, that's definitely gonna take some practice to pull off." Mercedes said with a laugh, but Rachel was looking intently at the boys.

"Blaine, why do you two have to act straight at your house?" She asked, frowning.

"My dad isn't really big on the idea of me dating another guy." Blaine said. "He knows I'm gay, I'm just forbidden to act on it." He said, and Rachel's frown fell into a sad look as she reached over and patted his hand.

"I see that worked out real well for your dad." Mercedes observed, and Rachel shot her a look. Meanwhile Kurt settled for wrapping his arms tighter around Blaine, pulling him close.

"Nope, I've got him." He said, snuggling his head into Blaine's shoulder. Blaine gave a little smile.

"How about you guys practice at our meeting tomorrow and the pre-read-through meeting Friday?" Rachel asked. "We can point out things you might not realize.

"Actually, how about you practice all day tomorrow since you're going to be over to help me write this?" Annie amended. "Because I bet you can get a lot more done without my cousin draped over you.

"But I _like_ him draped over me." Blaine pouted before adding a smile.

"Right answer." Kurt said with a smile, holding him tighter still. "But yeah, we'll practice tomorrow."

"Okay, down to business." Rachel said, beginning to write down who had auditioned for each part.

"Quinn only wrote down for Cinderella? Really?" Rachel asked, disbelief in her voice.

"You really expected anything else?" Kurt said. Rachel sighed.

"Well, the candidates for Cinderella are me, Quinn and Brittany." She looked up at Mercedes, puzzled. "Why didn't you mark down Cinderella? Or any of the main parts for that matter?"

"I'm kinda busy this summer. And if I'm directing, it'll be easier on me to just have a little part." Mercedes said, looking down. Kurt frowned, wondering where his best diva had gone.

"Hmm, well, let's look at the notes for Cinderella. I guess I'm first." Rachel said, flipping their judging notebook open to the first page and starting to read before giggling madly. Blaine grinned, knowingly.

"What's so funny?" Annie asked.

"Blaine Anderson!" Rachel said, pouncing over and hugging Blaine, kissing him on the cheek. Kurt leaned away, reaching over and picking up the notebook off the floor. He read Blaine's comments and rolled his eyes, hitting Blaine over the head with the notebook.

"Way to stay objective." He said, and Blaine shrugged, turning around to grin at him.

"Like anyone was really able to be objective about you, either." He said, reaching around and tickling Kurt at the waist. Kurt quickly restrained him, holding his boyfriend close against him.

"So are we just going to go ahead and okay Rachel for Cinderella?" Mercedes said, purposely trying to interrupt the byplay while Rachel and Annie rolled their eyes at the boys. The others agreed, and Rachel clapped her hands and wrote down her name on her official casting sheet in her notebook.

"So, about Prince Charming." Mercedes said, looking up at Rachel.

"Well, we have… Finn, Blaine's friends Wes and David, Sam, Artie, Puck and…Jesse." She said, saying the last name quietly.

"Who apparently _hasn't_ flunked out of UCLA?" Mercedes asked. Rachel shrugged, not looking up.

"And we can take Finn off the board immediately." Kurt said. "That was just embarrassing."

"Artie, Sam and Puck were a little lackluster, too." Mercedes said. "So that leaves the Warbler boys and Jesse." Blaine could feel Kurt tense up and gently rubbed his boyfriend's knee, trying to ease the tension.

"Wes did better than David." Kurt said, and Blaine nodded. "But I'd kind of like to see Wes as Rumpelstiltskin."

"Yeah, he does seem pretty weird." Mercedes said. Rachel nodded.

"The only other person weird enough for Rumpelstiltskin is Sam, and he was a little blank on stage." Rachel said quietly.

"Which leaves us Jesse and David for Prince Charming." Mercedes said. Kurt was tensing up again, and Blaine took Kurt's hand in his free one and rubbed the inside of his palm. Rachel looked up at Kurt.

"I don't want him to get this part any more than you do." She said quietly. Kurt rested his forehead on Blaine's back.

"Fine, Jesse's casted. But the second he does a single thing wrong, he's off and David's his understudy." Kurt said, and they all nodded.

"So the only callback we're doing is Quinn?" Rachel asked, and around the circle everyone nodded. "Well, I think that I probably shouldn't be in the room." Rachel said. Blaine smiled at her.

"Kurt, are you going to stay?" Mercedes asked, and Kurt nodded.

"The costume is one of the biggest draws here." He said, trying to sink into Blaine's back at the thought of facing Quinn after what he had said over the weekend.

"I'll keep him quiet." Blaine said, smirking.

"That will _totally_ make things go easier." Annie said, rolling her eyes as Blaine giggled.

"Hey, I didn't say _how_. You filled those blanks in yourself." He pointed out.

"I think I've been around you two long enough to figure out how it goes." Annie said, another eyeroll delivered.

"What was your mothers' maiden name?" He asked Annie and Kurt.

"Why?" They answered as one.

"I'm naming that eyeroll." He said, and Kurt bucked a knee up to unsettle Blaine.

"Wagner." Annie answered, and Blaine nodded.

"Wagner eyeroll. Got it."

"It's a special talent." Kurt said, winking at Annie.

"So, anyway, we're bringing Quinn in here?" Mercedes said, breaking up the chatter and pulling out her phone, dialing.

"I'll be in the auditorium singing." Rachel said, handing the notebooks over and standing up. "Text me when she's gone."

"Hey, Quinn? We need you to come back for a callback. … Yeah, choir room. … No, but you'll see. … Okay, see you in a bit." Mercedes said, and the four remaining set up a table and took their seats. Kurt sat on one of the ends to avoid being noticed.

Quinn entered the choir room about ten minutes later, her eyes scanning the room.

"Where's Rachel?" She asked primly.

"She thought it would be best if she weren't here." Mercedes said. "Especially seeing as she's been cast as Cinderella."

"So why am I here? To pick another part?" She asked.

"Basically." Mercedes said.

"Beauty." Quinn said immediately. Annie rolled her lips together and looked down.

"Casted." Mercedes said.

"Snow White." Kurt raised his eyebrows and gave what was supposed to come off as a modest shrug.

"Casted."

"So what is there?" Quinn said, crossing her arms. The four looked at each other, and it was Annie who decided to speak.

"We want to offer you the role of the evil stepmother." She said, looking the blonde girl in the eyes. Quinn started to seethe.

"This is you!" She said, turning on Kurt. Kurt sighed, holding the bridge of his nose.

"Quinn, I…"

"You think it's so funny. 'Let's cast the slut as evil! That'll be fun.' Unbelievable."

"No, I don't." Kurt said, slamming his hands down. "Because, for one, I never called you a slut. I called you not perfect, which you aren't. And yeah, I went for the easy target, but it's not exactly the worst thing going on here." Kurt said.

"Oh, really?" Quinn challenged, her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, Quinn. You're a shallow, selfish, vindictive bitch who thinks you deserve everything more than anyone else." Kurt said, his voice raising.

"Did you really just call me shallow?" Quinn said, stepping forward. Mercedes covered her eyes with one hand.

"Yeah, I did, Quinn. Because, you see, you dragged my step-brother around for months so you could be _prom queen_. Which, in case you haven't noticed, means absolutely shit."

"Easy for you to say." Quinn said. Kurt stood up.

"This is exactly my point, Quinn! You keep blaming me for that. Well, guess what? It was kind of one of the worst things to ever happen to me. But you don't give a damn, do you?" Kurt said. Blaine tried to catch one of Kurt's hands, but Kurt shook him off.

"Yeah, you can go ahead calling me shallow when you ran away to prep school for a few months and came back once you had a rich, pretty boy boyfriend." Quinn said, gesturing at Blaine. Already mad, Blaine stood up.

"HEY!"

"Leave Blaine out of this, Quinn." Kurt said, deathly angry as he put an arm out in front of his boyfriend.

"Quinn, I think you need to leave." Mercedes said quietly. Her voice seemed to pull Quinn back to normal, and she looked at her friend guiltily.

"No, let her stay Mercedes. She treats everyone like shit all the time, why should this time be any different?" Kurt asked. Blaine sat down.

"_You _are going to tell me that I treat people like shit?" Quinn asked, turning back to him. "After I've been so good about you and your boyfriend? That's not exactly what I grew up being taught, you know." Quinn said, the fury in her voice gone but a defensive tinge still remaining.

"Excuse me?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. I've been taught that it's wrong. I've consciously put that away, Kurt."

"What, does that deserve a freaking award?" Kurt asked, but the anger in his voice had subsided.

"Kurt…" Blaine said, putting a hand on his arm. Kurt looked at him and sat down, looking back up at Quinn.

"We're going for a glamorous evil queen. I will make you the most dramatically elegant costume you've ever seen, and you will provide a heavy counterbalance to all the pastels I'm putting the princesses in. The part is decently sized and has a poster billing." Kurt said evenly. Quinn looked at him, taking steady breaths.

"Fine."

"Our first read-through is at Rachel's on Friday. You'll receive the first draft of the script then. It's kind of a living document at the moment." Annie said. Quinn nodded and walked out of the classroom.

Once she was gone, Blaine turned to Kurt as Annie texted Rachel. Kurt sighed, turning toward him.

"Hey." Blaine said, reaching out and brushing a lock of hair off of Kurt's forehead tenderly.

"You know I'm not dating you because you're a… 'rich pretty boy,' right?" Kurt asked quietly, looking at Blaine from under his eyelashes.

"Of course I wouldn't think that." Blaine said, tracing his fingers down the side of Kurt's face and cupping his hand around his neck gently. "Don't let what she said worry you." He said, and Kurt gave him a little smile, taking Blaine's free hand in both of his.

"So we're finalized?" Rachel asked, bursting energetically through the door. She set about making the list, and the five admired it as she taped it to the auditorium door.

"Here we go, you guys." She said, squeezing Kurt and Annie's hands and bouncing. The five linked arms and walked out of the school, talking and laughing as they left the official casting list behind them.

**Summer Musical Cast:**

**Cinderella: Rachel Berry**

**Prince Charming: Jesse St. James**

**Snow White: Kurt Hummel**

**Rose Red: Santana Lopez**

**Bear Prince: Blaine Anderson**

**Beauty: Anna Shriver**

**Beast: David Thompson**

**Rumpelstiltskin: Wesley Montgomery**

**Evil Stepmother: Quinn Fabray**

**Peter Pan: Artie Abrams**

**Wendy: Sunshine Corazon**

**Tiger Lily: Tina Cohen-Chang**

**Mother: Mercedes Jones**

**Little Red Riding Hood: Brittany Pearce**

**Woodcutter: Finn Hudson**

**Bear Prince's Brother: Jeff Norther**

**All those not listed above will be part of the chorus. Thank you for your audition!**

**Author's Note: Hey, everyone! As always, thanks for the reviews :) Finn's monologue here is, as stated, from The Hangover. The lyrics Annie recited (and Kurt finished) were the opening to Schiebe by Lady Gaga. I should also mention, since I keep forgetting to, is that the lyrics Blaine was singing to Kurt on the dock in the birthday date chapter were from the song Moondance by Van Morrison. But, yay, our musical is on its way! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, too!**

**Edit: OH LORD. Thanks to everyone who pointed out that I said brother-in-law instead of step-brother. I actually write that quite a bit and have to change it; I don't know what my problem is. I fixed it... keep on keeping me on my toes! :)**


	15. Chapter 15: Distraction

"Really, Annie? Can't we just be boyfriends for an hour or so?" Kurt asked after being physically dragged away from Blaine when he went to kiss his boyfriend good morning. Annie shook her head dangerously.

"You can't kiss him hello Sunday. And you can't mope like that when you don't get to, either." She said, and Kurt sighed and sat down in the chair next to Blaine. He had slept in after being up late arguing with Finn over the choice to cast Jesse in a part opposite Rachel, but Blaine had arrived at his house bright and early for a workshop writing day with Annie, their only planned break expected to be a lunch meeting at Rachel's house. Rachel would actually be over soon to discuss song selections.

Frustrated with his cousin, Kurt looked at Blaine's happy little grin and frowned.

"What?" He asked grumpily, crossing his arms.

"Kurt, when was the last time either of us said the word 'boyfriends'?" Blaine asked, putting his pen down. It only took a second before Kurt gave Blaine a little secret smile.

"Story time?" Annie asked, looking between their sickeningly sweet expressions. Blaine opened his mouth to tell her, but Kurt quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

"You wouldn't let me kiss him hello, so I'm keeping you in the dark." Kurt sassed.

"_Fine._ One kiss." Annie said, and Kurt grinned.

"Your nosy nature really bests you, Annie." He said before turning his attention back to Blaine.

"Good morning." Blaine said as Kurt removed his hand from Blaine's mouth.

"Good morning." Kurt said, pressing his lips against Blaine's softly. The two kissed for a few seconds before finally letting each other go.

"It's how Blaine and I agreed to start dating." Kurt said with a proud grin.

"Wait, I thought that had something to do with a grand declaration about you singing to a dead bird?" Annie said, and Blaine nearly choked from suddenly laughter.

"Oh my God. I see you've been telling the story as romantically as possible." Blaine said, shaking his head. He looked at Annie. "I made my crazy declaration and then Kurt just went 'Boyfriends?' and I said the same thing back and it was settled." Blaine said. Kurt nodded.

"Least awkward way of making things official ever." He said with a proud smile. Annie rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

"So that was the one slip you get for the next two days. From here-on-out, it's Platonic Camp." Annie said, wagging her pen at him. Kurt let out a stage sigh and dramatically took a seat across from Blaine, pulling the sketchbooks and colored pencils he had brought into the dining room to himself and getting back to work on a dress for Santana.

"You can't play footsie under the table, either." Annie said, and Kurt looked up to her and stared. Blaine tried to keep from laughing as he sat up, obviously retracting his foot.

"How did you…" He asked, incredulous. Annie smirked.

"I know you. Now, come on, platonic." She said, and she and Blaine went back to their discussion about plot arcs and focuses within the musical. Kurt went and got his watercolors, starting to paint in the sketch he had just drawn with bold red paint.

A knock on the door a few minutes later distracted him, almost making him go outside of his lines with an edge stroke. He answered the door, brush in hand, to find Rachel standing outside with no less than five iPods in her hands.

"Hi, Kurt!" She said brightly, walking in. He said hello as well, apprehensively eyeing her little stack of music devices.

"I see you brought the iPods." Annie said, taking her own off of the buffet table. Blaine pulled his out of his pocket as well. "Kurt, go get your iPod. Any old ones that still have music on them, too. And as much as it pains me, see if you can get Finn to surrender his up for a few hours." She directed her cousin. Kurt rolled his eyes and obeyed.

After retrieving his own from the basement, he went up to Finn's room. It was ten in the morning, but as he didn't have football practice, Kurt's stepbrother was predictably still in bed.

"Hey Finn…" He said, pushing the door open since Finn slept with the door open, instead of firmly shut like Kurt. "Rachel wants your iPod to look through for songs for the musical."

"Why would she, she thinks I suck." Finn groaned. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, she has nothing to do with you blowing that audition." Kurt said, looking around Finn's room for his music player. He couldn't help but be appalled by the condition of Finn's room, especially since he was trying to get Carole to allow thim to have Rachel in his room.

Honestly, he should be embarrassed. Those socks looked positively soiled, and Kurt's eyes quickly sped up upon seeing his stepbrother's underwear on the floor. Living with Finn had significantly snuffed out any residual romantic feelings he had for the athlete.

"Why doesn't she just go get _Jesse's _iPod?" Finn asked. Kurt raised his eyebrows, admitting the possibility to himself that she might actually have it.

"Just tell me where it is. She's downstairs, so don't come out of here looking like that." Kurt said.

"Stereo." Finn grumbled, and Kurt saw that it was plugged into the back of Finn's massive black stereo. He unhooked it and took it with him, not saying another word to his stepbrother. He was still angry about the unnecessary yelling last night, especially after speaking up about how Quinn had treated him.

"Here." Kurt said, walking back into the dining room and handing the iPods over to Rachel, who had taken a seat next to him, across from Annie.

"Whose dress is that?" Rachel asked, looking over at the drawing as Kurt put the last few flicks of watercolor on it.

"Rose Red." Kurt said, sliding a finished alternative dress out of his folder. He slid them both out into the center of the table so all could see.

"Okay. Are we going more traditional with this, like the one that's done, or more modern, like the one I just did?" He asked. The finished dress had many elements resembling a fairy tale dress, such as a split in the front lined with gold. The more modern dress had a simple tank top shape on top and a skirt of short ruffled rings in one layer that he was basing off Oscar De La Renta, meant to look like a rose.

"Wow, Kurt." Blaine said, his jaw falling open as he looked at them. "These are… beautiful."

"Not platonic." Annie admonished, though she too took a few seconds to blink when she looked at the sketches. "Oh… wow…"

"I think how we're writing this, we're going to go for a more realistic direction. Like, the beast is just an asshole, not actually a monster, you know?" Blaine said, his eyes softly looking into Kurt's. Kurt tried extremely hard not to blush at the proud look in Blaine's eyes.

"Yeah," Annie said. Kurt thought. He liked the modern direction for the girls' dresses, but he couldn't help but regret the loss of putting Blaine in tights. Wait, Blaine's part kind of needed to be literal.

"Are you still going to be a bear?" He asked, and Blaine nodded. Kurt had to try hard not to give a wicked smile: the tights were _definitely _still happening.

"Those looks you two are giving each other? Not platonic." Annie said, barely glancing up. Kurt glared at her.

"Aw, Blaine, you look so disappointed." Rachel teased, turning on all the iPods. "So how far are you guys?"

"Well, we're outlining." Annie said, turning her paper to Rachel. "The format for the first act's almost done. We have a company number for introduction, then we'll need a dialogue and space for Rose Red's freedom song, then the girls-slash-Kurt singing 'Frogs and Princes', then Cinderella and Annie's freedom song, then Peter Pan's song, then Prince Charming's declaration of a ball song, then 'Pearl' for the stepmother, and a break where we need to find a song for these two," she gestured to Kurt and Blaine, "then Wendy's solo and Beasts' song, then a break for anything else before we get to the actual ball- which needs to include Red Riding Hood's song- but at the ball we have Cinderella and Rose Red's song and the Prince's declaration song."

"That's a lot of songs for one act." Rachel said, and Annie and Blaine both nodded.

"We're trying to put most of the action in the music." Blaine said. "That way we don't have to overexpose everyone to our lackluster writing."

"You mean your lackluster writing." Annie said, and Blaine shrugged.

"Here, give me that act one outline." Rachel said, and set about scrolling through the different iPods for songs.

* * *

><p>"I'd kind of like to focus this around it being summer." Blaine said about half an hour later. "You know, it's summer, and that would be a good way to draw people in."<p>

"So you'd want the word 'summer' to be in the title?" Annie asked, looking up from where she was writing dialogue for Rumpelstiltskin and the Stepmother.

"Yeah, and I'd like that to be really obvious in the play. Like, the scenery and everything."

"So we'd need a song to do with summer." Rachel said, starting to scroll through her own iPod. "I'm coming up with 'The Song of Purple Summer,' which doesn't fit, 'Summer Breeze,' which is too soft and 'Summer Lovin'. So those won't work." She said, starting to move on to Finn's iPod.

"Now, wait." Blaine said, holding out his hand. "Summer Lovin'. What if we used that?" He said, looking to Annie. "The entire theme here is love. What if we open the second act with it? Prince Charming and Cinderella, post ball."

"Blaine, that's ridiculous, that comes from another musical." Kurt said, adding a fifth wadded up piece of paper to the stack of fallen-through concept for Quinn's dress.

"No, I like it." Annie said, looking up. "Blaine's right, it sums up the entire musical in one title. And we're already using familiar music, so it doesn't really matter if it's from another musical."

"You know, it's not a terrible idea." Rachel said, looking over to Kurt. Kurt sighed and looked between their expectant faces, thinking.

"Summer Lovin' it is." He conceded, moving on to attempt number six.

"We have a title!" Rachel said, clapping her hands and pulling out her notebook and a fat gold Sharpie that she apparently carried around in her purse to write the new title across the notebook in thick, bold letters.

* * *

><p>"So this lunch is basically to just run this by me?" Mercedes asked as she sat down at Rachel's kitchen table. The four were huddled around it, papers scattered everywhere and Blaine's laptop sitting in front of him. Leroy and Hiram Berry were fixing lunch in the background.<p>

"Yeah, I guess." Rachel said. "Though it would be helpful if you'd give me your iPod so I can look through it for songs." She said, and Mercedes sighed and pulled the purple iPod with phone jewels stuck on it out of her purse and handing it to her.

"I get that back at practice tomorrow." She said, and Rachel nodded. Kurt swung his legs in glee.

"You guys, practice! We actually get to practice!" He said, clapping his hands before putting them back on the table. Blaine took them and squeezed, an excited look on his face, but Annie and Rachel both interrupted their little moment.

"Not platonic."

"What's going on, kids?" Hiram asked, bringing over a plate of finger sandwiches.

"Kurt's having dinner with Blaine's family Sunday." Rachel said, picking up one of the cucumber sandwiches.

"Oh, do they not know?" He asked, pausing to look at Blaine. The boy blushed, but decided that Rachel's dads might have some insight for him.

"They know… they just don't… want to know it." He said. Hiram nodded slowly.

"Are you allowed to have a boyfriend, strictly speaking?" He asked. Blaine shook his head.

"No, I'm not supposed to be dating guys." He said, looking down. Hiram put oy his hand on Blaine's back, and Leroy walked over, carrying a plate of vegetables.

"Annie, we have a cantaloupe, do you still like it?" He asked, and Annie answered politely. "You know, Blaine, both Hiram and I had that problem, especially since we were in high school in the seventies and all."

"Though we didn't meet for a few years after that." Hiram said gently. "Leroy's parents came around, but mine didn't. That's why we took Leroy's name."

Blaine looked from one of them to the other and smiled.

"So you two would have advice on acting like we're not dating." He said. Hiram and Leroy looked at each other.

"Well, our first piece of advice would be to not pretend to not be dating unless it's absolutely necessary." Leroy said.

"It is." Blaine and Kurt said. The adults frowned.

"How much trouble are we talking here, Blaine?" Hiram asked. Blaine sighed.

"Estrangement." He said frankly, and Hiram patted him a few more times on the back.

"It's been said explicitly?" He asked, and Blaine nodded.

"Well, let us know if you need anything, Blaine." Leroy said. "And I guess the main thing is to just let them fill in the blanks themselves, as they'll go for the way of least confrontation."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, they know you've been in Lima a lot, right? Tell them about the musical. Suddenly you're here for the musical, not Kurt." Hiram said, and Blaine's eyes grew wide in realization.

"And add other names to the conversation." Leroy said. "Rachel said you have some other boys from your school coming, mention them. And the girls, of course."

"Wow, thanks, Mr. and Mr. Berry." Blaine said, and the two smiled.

"Call us by our names, Blaine." Leroy said. "And you're more than welcome."

"Anything for our Rachel's friends. Like Leroy said, let us know if you need anything." Hiram said, and after Leroy cut up a cantaloupe for Annie, the two left the room.

"Your dads are really great, Rachel." Blaine said, picking up a sandwich. Rachel smiled put a hand over his.

"You'll be fine, Blaine. Really."

* * *

><p>It was, perhaps, the sincerity of Blaine's distraction that allowed for Kurt's reprieve of his usual anger whenever someone wasn't paying attention to him the next day at the read-through. As Kurt went through a presentation on the different elements of the costume designs and how each person would have to schedule a time with him for measurements within the next week, Blaine zoned out and just stared at Kurt as he spoke. Defying all precedents, Kurt forewent his usual angry response to such actions and instead returned to Blaine after he was done speaking, taking Blaine's hand and stroking it gently. When Annie and Rachel opened their mouths to scold them, Kurt gave them a withering gaze that quickly shut them up.<p>

Seeing as the dialogue was scant throughout the play, the meeting was more of an introduction than a read-through. Annie and Blaine walked everyone through the format of the play and the relationships between the characters, Rachel introduced the songs and Mercedes gave a long lecture about her expectations from the crew and how she was "not going to put up with dramatic bullshit."

That's not to say there weren't road bumps along the way. The first came when Rachel dropped her notebook as Annie announced that the musical would begin with a scene between Rose Red and the Woodcutter. Kurt facepalmed, knowing that Blaine and Annie had no idea what they had done.

Then came Jesse's incessant questioning. They meet at the ball. Do they kiss? They dance. Yeah, but do they kiss? In the next act he sets out to find her. Do they kiss? Not until he actually finds her. That means they kiss? Kurt could see Finn's face growing red with anger. Annie, floundering on her own as Blaine was clearly barely paying attention, only told them that they would see. The answer didn't seem to do anything to console Finn.

Then there were the little things. Sunshine asked how Artie could play Peter Pan, angering Annie, confusing Brittany and exasperating Artie himself. Then a while later she asked how Mercedes could be the mother of Santana and Kurt, causing a collective groan. After a few more questions about how Blaine and Jeff could be brothers and why Blaine got to be a bear when Artie didn't get to fly and David didn't get to be a real beast.

"There's no figurative way to be a bear, Sunshine." Tina said, rolling her eyes. Mike had been paying a little too much attention to the new Asian girl in the group, pressing on Tina's nerves.

"Okay!" Mercedes yelled, beginning to wrap up the meeting as it began tumbling further downhill. "Hopefully these two will have something finalized for Monday! For now, sign up for an appointment with Kurt and if you were given a song, learn it! See you guys noon Monday!" She said, and everyone broke into more conversation and began to move.

"You'll come over tomorrow for yours, right?" Kurt asked, pulling on Blaine's sleeve. Blaine nodded and gave him a little smile, looking down at the sheet in Kurt's lap.

"You don't have any spots this weekend, Mr. Hummel." Blaine said, batting his eyelashes.

"That's because Saturday is all for you, and Sunday is all for preparing to meet that family of yours." Kurt said, leaning in to give Blaine a little kiss. Kurt handed the list to Mercedes and everyone began writing signing up for places, and soon enough everyone was leaving Rachel's house and Kurt was walking Blaine to his car.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Be sure to mention how wonderful Rachel, Annie and Mercedes are and not say a word about me to your parents tonight." He said, running his fingers through Blaine's curly hair as they stood in front of the older boy's car, holding both hands.

"Distract me tomorrow." He said, leaning in and kissing the corner of Kurt's mouth.

"Why do you think you have the full day?" Kurt asked, cocking his head and grinning as he moved in and kissed Blaine's gently.

"I love you." Blaine said quietly, pecking Kurt on the lips before getting into his car. Kurt rapped on the window with his knuckles and Blaine rolled it down.

"What?"

"I love you too, idiot. I'll see you tomorrow." He said, leaning in and kissing Blaine on the cheek before stepping back from the car, admiring the soft smile on Blaine's lips. Kurt waved, and Blaine left.

"Is he going to be alright?" Rachel asked, coming up behind Kurt with Annie. Kurt took a deep breath and shrugged.

"This is how he gets when he's stressed."

"That doesn't tell us whether or not he'll be okay." Annie said, sighing.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Burt walked in from mowing the lawn to see Blaine standing on a stool as Kurt held a measuring tape up to his torso and Annie sat sideways in an armchair with a notebook in her hand.<p>

"Hello, Blaine. Thought I saw your car pull up. What exactly is my son subjecting you to?" He asked, taking his hat off to wipe some sweat from his brow. Blaine smiled at him as Kurt continued to read off a measurement and Annie wrote it down.

"Good morning, Mr. Hummel. Kurt's sizing me for the musical." He said, pulling a face. Burt laughed.

"Well, I'm going to go lay down for a nap. There's food in the kitchen for you kids to eat for lunch." Burt said, walking through the house. The three thanked him, and as soon as she heard the door shut, Annie looked at Kurt with an astonished look.

"He doesn't even tell you two to behave?" She whispered in a hiss. Kurt shrugged, looping the tape around Blaine's waist. Blaine grimaced.

"Trust me, I've been threatened into behaving." He said, and Annie nodded. Kurt read off a number.

"Okay, do you know what size of tights do you wear?" He asked.

"Kurt."

"Yes?" He asked, coming back around to face Blaine, and giving his most resolute look.

"_Kurt_."

"You know, you usually saying my name that often for when…"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Blaine interrupted quickly.

"Then stop pouting."

"But really, Kurt? Tights?"

"You have five options. One, you tell me and I go buy them. Two, you let me measure you and I go buy them. Three, you go buy them, and deal with weird looks. Four, we _both_ go to buy them, and get _really_ weird looks. Five, I never speak to you again." He said with a little smile. Blaine groaned.

"You're going to humiliate me."

"No I won't, you'll be wearing a tunic." Kurt said, going over and picking up his sketch for Blaine's outfit. It involved black tights with a black tunic and a black fur jacket.

"What about when I transform?" He asked resignedly.

"Then you get to wear dance pants and a doublet just like all the other boys." He said with a smile.

"So you have to measure me for pants anyway." He said, gesturing to his legs. Kurt grinned and started taking measurements again.

"If it makes you feel better, they're actually leggings, not tights." He said after a few minutes, measuring down one side of Blaine's leg.

"Oh, completely relieved." Blaine said, rolling his eyes as Kurt measured his inseam, putting his hand flush against the top of his thigh, his fingers splayed.

"Oh, you're going to look great." Kurt said, stroking his legs down and switching to the other side, his hand strong again against the top of Blaine's thigh.

"Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"My grandmother has measured me for pants before. I know you don't have to measure both sides." He said, looking down at Kurt and raising an eyebrow. He tried not to smile, but failed when Kurt gave him a wild grin and stood up.

"Annie, darling, we're going downstairs." He said, biting his lip and continuing to look at Blaine, whose knees were starting to weaken.

"I have a feeling that is definitely not something you're supposed to do." Annie said, putting down the notebook.

"Nope, which is why you're going to be a good girl and go to your room and not say a word." Kurt said, turning to her and ruffling her hair.

"Sorry, Annie, I obviously have no choice in this matter." Blaine said, holding his hands up and grinning.

"You both owe me. Keep that in mind." Annie said, standing up and walking toward her room. Kurt swiftly took Blaine's hand and led him downstairs.

Kurt quickly kissed Blaine hard, backing him up until the backs of his legs were against the bed. Blaine wobbled, holding on to the taller and sturdier boy to keep from toppling over. Kurt grinned at him and pushed him lightly by the shoulder, persuading him to sit down on the bed. Kurt grinned, bending under and trailing his lips down under Blaine's jaw.

"Don't leave a mark." Blaine whispered, closing his eyes as Kurt nibbled at his jawbone.

"I won't, but I want to." Kurt murmured, moving down Blaine's neck, dragging his lips. "I'll just suck elsewhere…" He murmured, grinning as he pressed his lips to the base of Blaine's neck, his boyfriend's hands gripping his hips tightly.

"Kurt!" Blaine whined, fidgeting and tugging down on Kurt's hips.

"Sure saying my name quite a bit today, aren't you?" Kurt teased, pulling back and looking Blaine in the eyes. He smiled at the dark, lustful look in those familiar, half-closed eyes.

"Can you blame me?" Blaine asked, putting a hand on Kurt's collar.

"Of course not; I'm well aware of _just_ how good I've got you." Kurt said, leaning in and kissing Blaine, licking at his lip until he opened and allowed Kurt's tongue into his mouth. He softly pushed Blaine backward, pressing him into the bed as he continued to kiss him.

Kurt broke the kiss and started to slide down Blaine's body onto his knees on the floor between Blaine's legs. He toyed with the button of Blaine's pants as he kissed Blaine's leg through his pants, his breath warm through the fabric of Blaine's pants. The older boy fidgeted and Kurt grinned, flipping the button free and unzipping Blaine's pants, sliding them down and revealing Blaine's underwear-covered bulge. He traced it with his finger, making Blaine hiss, before sliding Blaine's underwear down and revealing him.

Kurt slowly took Blaine into his mouth, sucking gently and marveling at the way Blaine's muscles contracted along his thighs and lower abdomen. He teased Blaine with his tongue, realizing that now that the initial awkwardness of doing this was over, he could actually come up with some pretty good ways to drive Blaine wild… like that quick fidget of a lick he just gave the base of Blaine's penis at the bottom, which made him gasp and buck up. Kurt couldn't help but become a little undone from the sight of how strong Blaine was as he responded to what Kurt did to him. A few seconds later he was sucking on Blaine again and the boy bucked up into his mouth, making Kurt moan around him. Blaine's hand landed flat on his head, hesitant as Kurt moved.

"Don't worry about my hair." Kurt murmured, coming up to lick up the side of Blaine's cock. Blaine didn't need told twice, and wrapped his fingers in Kurt's thick, fine hair as the younger boy dipped back around him. He pulled up at Kurt's hair as he licked at him inside his mouth, and continued to resort to pulling Kurt's hair as Kurt started to use his hand as well.

"Kurt… Kurt, Kurt… Kurt…" He moaned, and felt the younger boy moan around him, sending him further. "Kurt, I'm…"

"I'm gonna try." Kurt whispered, coming up for a second before taking Blaine back in his mouth, sucking hard. Blaine's eyes closed and he came into the younger boy's mouth.

His eyes shot open when he heard Kurt give a strangled cry. He sat up as Kurt slid his lips off of him, and saw Kurt wave his hands a little bit before swallowing, looking up at Blaine sheepishly, some of Blaine still dripping from his lips.

"It hit the back of my throat and I gagged." Kurt admitted, blushing scarlet. Blaine stared at him a second before bursting into laughter, putting his arms on Kurt's shoulders and kissing him on the cheek.

"You are the cutest damn thing I've ever seen in my life." Blaine muttered, drawing back to look his boyfriend in the eyes.

"Which is particularly unfortunate seeing as right now I was kind of going for 'sexy.'" Kurt said, wincing.

"They're not exactly mutually exclusive, you know." Blaine said, cupping Kurt's face in his hand and spreading the bits of what was left on Kurt's lip across his cheek, making his mouth fall open. Blaine grinned and leaned in, kissing him and moaning at the taste of himself in Kurt's mouth. He pulled his boyfriend up against him, kissing him harder until Kurt moaned. Grinning, Blaine strung one of his arms under Kurt's butt and braced the other behind his back, lifting him up in one halting movement until he was lying on the bed, his head on the pillow.

"How did you just manage that?" Kurt asked, giggling as Blaine climbed up and nuzzled into his neck, licking it.

"I'm stronger than I look." Blaine said, sounding rather pleased with himself. Kurt tried thinking up a witty reply, but any progress he had made was lost when Blaine firmly squeezed his ass with one hand, making him gasp. "No reply?"

"You're a little distracting." Kurt whimpered as Blaine chuckled and slid his hand around to Kurt's front, his hand flat and his fingers dragging.

"Well that's no fun." Blaine said, stroking back and forth across Kurt's stomach, driving the boy wild with how close the hand was. "I'm just going to keep doing this until you come up with an answer.

"I don't remember the fucking _question._" Kurt bit out, frustrated, hot and bothered. Blaine laughed, slipping his hand down into Kurt's pants, his fingers tapping around the base of Kurt's penis.

"Does this make the problem better or worse?" He asked, smiling at the way Kurt squirmed up for his touch.

"_Just get on with it._" Kurt said, his voice angry. Blaine laughed outright.

"So demanding." Blaine tsked, unbuttoning and unzipping Kurt's pants and sliding them and his underwear down quickly. Okay, he had to admit he really had been torturing his boyfriend, especially seeing how relieved Kurt looked to finally be free of his clothes… and how much precum his cock was already leaking. Abandoning all thoughts of further teasing, Blaine gave him a quick lick and settled his mouth over him, giving him a hard suck. Kurt slid his hands into the back of Blaine's wide-collared shirt, gripping down tightly on his shoulders. As Blaine toyed with him, he could feel Kurt's finger nails digging in.

It was hard for Blaine to believe that just a few months ago, he was fighting how much he liked this boy and trying to ignore just how cute he thought he was. It all looked so stupid in retrospect, especially when retrospect involved those little vulnerable moans Kurt made.

It didn't take very long for Kurt to come, and Blaine was pretty sure that the younger boy broke the skin on his back as he did. Licking Kurt from his lips, Blaine slid up the bed next to him, falling onto the pillow next to him. Kurt's eyes flickered open, giving Blaine a soft, sweet smile as the older boy ran his fingertips across Kurt's temple.

"I love you." Blaine said softly, cupping Kurt's cheek in his hand and kissing him gently.

"I love you, too." Kurt said, tugging at Blaine's arm until he climbed over into Kurt's arms. Blaine continued to kiss him softly.

"You really are good with distraction." Blaine said, smiling.

"Obviously not if you've seen through my evil plan." Kurt replied, playing with one of Blaine's curls.

"It still worked." Blaine said, kissing Kurt deeply. They both moaned at the different tastes in their mouths.

After a few minutes the boys got up and cleaned up: combing hair, brushing teeth and adjusting clothing. They arrived upstairs to find Annie at the kitchen table, eating a sandwich. Her eyes ran over their freshly combed hair, perfectly tidy clothes and secret smiles before shaking her head and averting her attention to her sandwich.

"So whatcha doin' Annie?" Kurt asked, pulling deli meat out of the refrigerator.

"Rachel's been texting me about the songs. We're almost all set, but one of the things we're still looking for is a final song for you two. It's near the end, so it really needs to be a showstopper."

"Hmm." Kurt said, frowning and thinking.

"Enrique Iglesias." Blaine said, a mischievous look on his face.

"No." Annie said, figuring out what he meant. "Not that one."

"What?" Kurt asked, confused.

"Really, Blaine, no." Annie said, grinning despite herself.

"I'm lost."

"_I know you want me." _Blaine started to sing, doing one of his Warbler spins. "_I made it obvious that I want you, too…_" He continued to sing, stepping up in front of Kurt as Kurt and Annie both laughed.

"Okay, I get it." Kurt said, pushing at Blaine's shoulders. The older boy stopped singing, grinning at Kurt.

"Perfect, right?"

"Wrong." Kurt said, rolling his eyes and turning back around. "Remember that whole 'emotional' thing you decided on for Sectionals? Like that." Kurt said with a grin, walking over for the bread.

"But that was to get you overwhelmed while we practiced so I could kiss you." Blaine said, causing Kurt to facepalm to keep from giggling.

"Thank God I figured that out by myself." Kurt said, rolling his eyes and smiling back at Blaine with a happy little smile. He took four slices of bread out of the bag and set about working on the sandwiches.

"If you two are going to just flirt this entire time, I'm going back to my room." Annie said, glancing up at them.

"She sounds like David." Blaine said, leaning back against the refrigerator. Kurt grinned. "And, like I asked him, is it still considered flirting if we're dating?"

"Whatever it is," Annie said, standing up to take her plate to the sink, "I'm going to leave you two alone to do it." She said, starting to walk to the sink, but Blaine caught her arm as she passed.

"Stay, Annie. I'm going to leave in a little while anyway; I'm going to take my little sister swimming today."

"Eat my food and leave?" Kurt teased, finishing the sandwiches and handing one to Blaine. Blaine gave him a look that made Kurt roll in his lips and look away, completely blushing. Sometimes the dirty comments on Blaine's mind didn't need vocalized.

"Annie, will you go fabric shopping with me this afternoon? I can start on your dress and Blaine's outfit." Kurt said, directing his attention to his cousin.

"Sure, but you still haven't told me what color I'm wearing, since you agreed that I can't do yellow." Annie said.

"Light blue. I'm going to be yellow, since my hair's further away from my clothes. Rachel's going to be pink, Quinn's going to be plum, Santana's going to be red and Sunshine is going to be green."

"And I get to be black." Blaine said with a fake pout. Kurt grinned.

"Until you transform… then you get to be yellow, like me. Just darker."

"We're going to match?" Blaine asked, his eyebrows rising.

"Everyone's going to match whoever they play with. Santana, Brittany and Finn will all be red, Annie and David are both going to be blue…"

"Does this mean you're putting that Jesse kid in pink like Rachel?" Annie asked, and Kurt grinned.

"Sure does."

"It'll look awful on him, Kurt!" Annie said, rolling her eyes. Kurt shrugged.

"Rachel wanted to be pink. I don't really have another color to put her in unless we make them orange, which I'm not doing."

"Well, don't purposely make it ugly, Kurt. I still don't get what this guy did to make you hate him so much."

"He's from our rival glee club." Kurt said defiantly.

"Unlike me?" Blaine said, smirking.

"Shut up. Fine. He told me I shouldn't sing girl songs." Kurt said, and Blaine choked on his sandwich.

"That's it?" Annie asked, as Blaine managed to swallow and was able to laugh.

"It had very homophobic undertones!" Kurt said, his ears growing red. Blaine put an arm around Kurt, kissing him on the shoulder. "I don't know why you're laughing so much, you sing girl songs, too." Kurt said, poking Blaine in the stomach.

"That's exactly why." Blaine said, grinning. "I'd be so pissed, too!" Kurt rolled his eyes and grinned.

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later, Kurt was walking Blaine to his car.<p>

"Tell Jess I said hi, and even though we have to pretend not to know each other, I'll be glad to see her tomorrow." Kurt said, giving Blaine a small smile. Blaine took his hand.

"I will. She'll be excited to see you, too. She's always asking about you."

"Okay. I'll text you later, and I'll talk to you for sure before tomorrow night." Kurt said. "I love you."

"Love you, too." Blaine said quietly, giving Kurt a soft kiss before getting in his car and driving away. Kurt watched until his car had turned out of sight before walking back up to the house, kicking rocks. Annie was waiting for him in the living room.

"Why do you look so stressed out?" She asked, leaning against a chair.

"I don't know, maybe because if I screw up tomorrow my boyfriend is going to get kicked out of his house." Kurt said, trying to walk past her to the basement.

"You know Blaine would never even think of blaming you, right? No matter what happens." She asked, catching him by the sleeve as he tried to walk past her.

"You're right. He wouldn't think to blame me, because he's too buy constantly blaming himself for everything that goes wrong." Kurt said, uncharacteristically running a hand through his hair. Annie stared, realizing just how seriously he was taking this.

"Kurt, it's going to be okay. 'This, too, shall pass,' right?"

"I hope." Kurt said, shaking his head. "Let's go to the fabric store in half an hour, I'm going to go lie down for a while."

"Okay." Annie said, biting her lip as she watched him walk down into the basement.

**Author's Note: Hey, everyone! This chapter took forever, and if I were to take it where it was originally going to go, it would probably have 20,000 words. I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter done, but I know exactly what's going to happen in it, so that should help. This part of the story is where a lot of the drama is going to be, so sorry for the mood change, but they're going to get past it.**

**Oh, and if you didn't pick up on it, the song Blaine was joking around with was "Tonight I'm Fucking You" by Enrique Iglesias. ;)**

**Thanks for stopping by, and reviewing. I've had some pretty enthusiastic reviews lately, so thanks! Hope you guys like this chapter, too.**


	16. Chapter 16: The Andersons

To avoid looking too nervous about the night ahead, Blaine had taken to his bedroom. Jessie had been bobbing in and out, but at the moment he was alone and looking through pictures Wes had posted of their trip to Sectionals.

At the musical tones of the Skype ringer, Blaine jumped.

**Kurt Hummel Calling**

Smiling, Blaine answered the call, only to be greeted by an expanse of pale boyfriend chest.

"Uh… Kurt?" Blaine asked, glancing over at the door to make sure it was shut and there wasn't a sneaky little sister standing there.

"Hey!" Kurt said, dipping down so that his face was visible.

"Put a shirt on before Jessie hears me talking to you and skips on over here to say hi." Blaine said, running a hand through his hair. He couldn't help but notice that the hickey on Kurt's chest was entirely gone.

"That's actually why I called." Kurt said, confusing Blaine.

"You called so I could tell you to put a shirt on?"

"No, I called so you could tell me _which_ shirt to put on." Kurt said, backing up. Quickly, two dress shirts swung into the picture.

"You said business casual, right?" Kurt asked, peeking out from over the shirts.

"Shirt, slacks and tie, yeah." Blaine said, amused.

"Good. Now, do I do yellow with a dark blue tie or aqua with a yellow tie?" Kurt asked, shaking the shirts.

"Umm, I like the blue one with your eyes." Blaine said, smiling a little bit. Okay, so he could be trite from time-to-time.

"Blaine, you're not supposed to be looking at my eyes tonight, we're supposed to look platonic.

"Do straight guys not look each other in the eyes?" Blaine asked, and Kurt blushed. He had a good idea what he looked like when he and Blaine were looking each other in the eye.

"Really, Blaine, what color?"

"The aqua, really. If you want my opinion, which is always terrible." Blaine said.

"Okay." Kurt said, putting down the other shirt and sliding on the one Blaine had selected, leaving only one button undone at the collar. He picked up a pale yellow tie and tied it, flattening it down over his chest.

"There. You don't think it's too colorful, do you?" Kurt asked, spinning around.

"Kurt, just because gay people are represented by a rainbow doesn't mean that straight guys only wear dull tones."

"Yes, but I want to be convincing!" Kurt said, grimacing. Blaine smiled.

"Don't worry about it. If you overdo it, it'll be just as bad." Blaine reasoned. He heard his door open and quickly sat up to see Jessie stepping into his room.

"Are you talking to Kurt?" She asked in a stage whisper. Blaine nodded and gestured for her to join him.

"Kurt, your biggest fan is here." Blaine said, laying back down as Jessie basically climbed on his back, her chin on his shoulder.

"Hi, Kurt!" Jessie said, smiling at Kurt. He could see that she had lost a tooth since he had last seen her.

"Jessie! How are you, dear?" Kurt asked, sitting down in front of the camera.

"I'm good. I hear you're coming over tonight for dinner."

"Yup. I was actually just having your brother tell me if this shirt is normal enough to wear tonight."

"Why are you asking Blaine about clothes?" Jessie asked, scrunching up her nose. Both boys laughed.

"That's a good question. What do you think, is this a good thing to wear tonight?" Kurt asked, gesturing at the shirt and tie. Jessie thought for a second, her face scrunching up as she thought.

"I like your fancy clothes better." Jessie admitted.

"So do I." Kurt and Blaine said at the same time, and they both gave little laughs, though the tone fell a little bit.

"Are you wearing that because our dad won't like your normal clothes?" Jessie asked, and Kurt nodded. "I'm sorry. I wish my dad weren't so mean."

"I wish so, too, but not for my clothes. I'll survive in something plebian for a night." Kurt said with a small smile.

"What?" Jessie asked, cocking her head. Both boys laughed again.

"It means Kurt is making a huge sacrifice tonight."

"That's exactly _not_ what I said, Blaine Anderson." Kurt said, laughing.

"You two are weird." Jessie said, giggling.

"Well then you'll be glad to pretend not to know me for a night." Kurt joked.

"No I won't." She said, wrapping her arms around her brother's neck. "I'll hate it."

"Well I bet you're going to be a fabulous actress." Kurt said, and Jessie smiled.

"_Jessica Anderson, come pick up these stuffed animals!_" Blaine heard his mother yell, and nudged her.

"Go, so she doesn't come up here."

"Fine. See you tonight, Kurt!" She said, purposely digging her elbow into Blaine's back as she got off the bed.

"See you tonight, Jessie!" He said, waving. Jessie poked her head back in view of the camera and blew him a kiss before running away. "Have I told you how much I adore your little sister?"

"She's an angel. Even when she hurts." Blaine said, reaching around and rubbing his back as best he could.

"Well, I better let you go. I'll see you tonight. I love you." Kurt said, swallowing hard and subconsciously putting his fingers on his computer screen.

"I love you, too."

* * *

><p>"So let me get this straight, you're going over there in clothes you'd never wear, to meet his parents and act like you two aren't dating?" Burt asked, his voice raised. Kurt looked down at the ground, trying to avert his father's eyes. He had avoided telling Burt what was going on for specifically this reason, but his father had caught him on his way through the living room and was questioning Kurt's clothing.<p>

"Dad, we have to." Kurt said, looking up. "Blaine doesn't like this any more than I do."

"I know he doesn't, but that doesn't make me any less frustrated with this. I don't want my son having to pretend he's anything else than he is for anybody, and that includes his boyfriend's parents."

"I know, Dad. But I can do this for Blaine. I _have_ to do this for Blaine. This is what he has to deal with all the time whenever he's home." Kurt said, looking directly into his father's eyes. Burt sighed, looking down.

"I'm still making this clear that I don't like this. I've offered to talk to Blaine's father before. If anything happens tonight, I _will_ talk to his father whether Blaine wants me to or not. I know it's past the point where you can stay uninvolved, but I don't like you not being you for _anybody_."

"I know that, Dad. Just let me do this for Blaine." Kurt said beseechingly.

"Okay. But, Kurt, don't hide yourself too much."

"I won't. Thanks, Dad." Kurt said, trying to smile at his father.

"Go on, don't want to be late meeting his parents." Burt said, shooing him out of the living room with his arm.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, Kurt?"

"I love you." Kurt said, trying to portray his absolute gratitude and appreciation for Burt as his father.

Burt walked over to him and enveloped him in a tight hug.

"Love you, too, Kid."

* * *

><p>Kurt knocked on the Andersons' door at exactly 6:59, having been invited to come at seven in time for dinner at 7:30. He felt incredibly stupid standing in his typical high school boy dress clothes in the lingering daylight, but when the door opened he realized that Blaine hadn't been exaggerating about the dress code.<p>

Because the woman in front of Blaine was wearing a very pretty red shift dress that in all honestly was probably a bit too young for her and very high heels that were probably too high for her. She herself wasn't quite as old as Kurt had expected, however. His own mother, like most of the McKinley mothers, would have been nearly approaching fifty by now, but this woman only looked ten years younger.

But she was definitely Blaine's mother. She had the same olive skin, plump lips and arched eyebrows (though hers were tamed to just the top of those arches) as her son, and she had the straight hair Jessie envied.

She was a beautiful lady, Kurt had to admit. But she had very little of that accompanying warmth usually associated with those who held the title "mother."

"Mrs. Anderson?" Kurt asked, smiling at the woman. Even though she was a step up from him, they were at the same height. Apparently she had influence over Blaine's height as well.

"You must be Blaine's friend." She said, stepping back and opening the door wider for him to come inside.

"Yes, Mrs. Anderson, my name's Kurt Hummel." He said, awkwardly extending his hand to her. She grasped it and released it in a gesture that simultaneously refrained from being rude but also declined such a manly gesture as shaking hands. Kurt was impressed, and terrified.

"Welcome to our home, Kurt. Blaine! Your friend is here." She called, walking back into the living room.

"Your house is very beautiful, Mrs. Anderson." Kurt said, pretending to look at all the features as though he hadn't stood here observing before.

"Thank you." She said, and was saved from making more conversation Blaine entering, his hair holding more gel than Kurt had ever seen it. Jessie followed closely behind.

"Hi, Kurt." Blaine said, a nervous energy behind his eyes as he very obviously tried to keep his voice steady, like one would speak to a friend. Blaine swallowed after he said Kurt's name, hoping he was being discreet. He had always felt like his feelings about his boyfriend were particularly evident whenever he spoke his name; that soft caress of intonation on his voice _had_ to be obvious to everyone.

"Hi, Blaine." Kurt said, obviously trying to constrain the same sort of feeling. Jessie elbowed Blaine in the side.

"Kurt, this is my little sister Jessie." Blaine said, wincing in pain, wishing his mother would just get back to what she was doing instead of standing by them all.

"Hi, Jessie." Kurt said, bending over. He hesitated, worrying. Did straight guys bend over to talk to children?

"Hi, Kurt." Jessie said, skipping over to him. "Would you like to see my dolls?" She asked, wrapping her hand around his wrist. Kurt looked up at Blaine and then back to Jessie. There was a certain look in her eye that told him that he better follow.

"Jessica, leave your brother's friend alone." Mrs. Anderson said, walking back into the living room.

"It's alright. Sure, Jessie." Kurt said, and Jessie grinned widely and turned around quickly, jerking Kurt's arm in the process.

"You too, Blaine." She said, taking his wrist in her other hand and leading them hurriedly up the stairs.

Jessie led them into a room parallel to Blaine's on the second floor. The walls were painted a very light lavender, and shelves of porcelain dolls lined one wall while shelves of little league sports trophies lined another. Unlike Blaine's room, Jessie's room was very much lived in.

"There. Now they can't hear us if we're quiet." Jessie said, letting them go and closing her door before running and leaping into Kurt's arms. Luckily, he was ready. "Hi, Kurt!" She said, giggling.

"Hi, Jessie." Kurt said, lifting her up into the hug before putting her back on her feet again.

"Close your eyes so I can say hi, too." Blaine said with a smile, and Jessie stuck out her tongue but clapped her hands over her eyes.

"Hi." Blaine said, stepping in and kissing him softly. He took Kurt's hand in one of his and tapped Jessie on the head with his other.

"You can come out now, we're done."

"Good."

Kurt couldn't help but realize that Jessie had the most devilish grin on his face he could imagine. He turned to Blaine.

"This is so much easier. Can we just stay up here the entire time? Your mother is frightening."

"I hate to tell you, but she's going to be the easy one." Blaine said, running a hand through his hair. Kurt quickly swatted Blaine's hand away, smoothing his curls back out with his fingers.

"You two look like monkeys." Jessie said, giggling. The boys couldn't help but giggle, too.

"I feel like one." Kurt said, smoothing out the last of Blaine's hair. "I feel like this is just one big monkey circus, and I'm going to wake up and it will have all been a dream and I won't own this shirt anymore."

"I told you he's making a big sacrifice." Blaine said to Jessie, who giggled again.

"Only for you." Kurt said, grinning. Blaine squeezed his hand. "Okay, game plan. Where should I sit at dinner?"

"Umm… next to me?" Blaine answered.

"I'm overthinking things, aren't I?" Kurt asked, scratching the back of his head.

"No more than I am. I'm about to jump out of my skin at every second. Do you realize how many shirts I went through to make sure that I could find something that didn't coordinate at all with yours? So I chose red, with a black tie. And then I realized that those are McKinley colors, so I changed again even after my mother saw me, to this, and I realized that I probably look like I'm nervous about seeing you, so I stayed in this even though it's green and it kind of goes with what you're wearing and…"

"Blaine!" Kurt said, reaching up and taking Blaine's face in his hands, effectively stopping him. Blaine sighed and stared into his eyes.

"Jessie, you wanna close your eyes again so I can calm your brother down?" Kurt asked, and the girl quickly clapped her hands back over her eyes. Kurt chuckled and gently leaned in and kissed Blaine.

"We've got this, okay?" Kurt whispered, giving Blaine a small smile. "We're overreacting, and everything's going to be fine." He started to lean in again, but Blaine blocked him by turning his head and looking at his sister.

Who was clearly peaking between her fingers.

"I told you to close your eyes, Jessie!" Kurt said, laughing. Jessie blushed.

"You were talking, I thought that meant you were done!"

"That's not how it works." Blaine said, covering Jessie's eyes with his hand and leaning back in to kiss Kurt again. Releasing them both, he looked into his boyfriend's eyes.

"I think we've exhausted the amount of time we could reasonably be looking at Jessie's dolls." Blaine said, grimacing.

"I get another hug though." Jessie said, and Kurt grinned and opened his arms for her, scooping her into another hug. After hugging her, Kurt stood up and looked at Blaine.

"Here we go." He said, looking at Blaine. The older boy took his hand and gave it a squeeze before looking at the door and realizing that he needed to drop it. With mutual sadness, the two let their hands go, starting for the door.

As they went downstairs, Kurt spotted a new figure sitting in an armchair by the fireplace. He had greying hair in a buzz cut and paler skin than the others of the household.

"Kurt, this is my father. Dad, Kurt Hummel." Blaine said as they reached the bottom of the stairs, standing out of the way. Mr. Anderson stood up and walked toward them, and Kurt tried his very hardest to keep his cool. As he drew closer, Kurt noticed that Mr. Anderson had the same hazel eyes as his children and was close to his own height.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Anderson." Kurt said, holding out his hand. Mr. Anderson stuck his hand out and shook Kurt's hand, but gave him a puzzled expression.

"Something wrong with your voice?" He asked gruffly.

"Um, no, Sir…" Kurt said, looking down and trying his hardest not to glance at Blaine.

"Oh. So what school do you go to, Kurt? Blaine said you used to be a Dalton boy."

"McKinley High, sir."

"You play any sports?" Mr. Anderson asked. Kurt's mind reeled, and it took him a second to get it away from his cheerleading uniform.

"I played kicker on the football team my sophomore year." He said, and Mr. Anderson nodded.

"Blaine here was a wide receiver until he went to Dalton and decided he'd rather sing and do debate." Mr. Anderson whacked Blaine on the arm, and Blaine winced from the force. "The singing thing is supposed to be pretty good, what's it called again? Wibblers?"

"Warblers." They both corrected at once, and Kurt suddenly realized that he probably should have kept his mouth shut.

"That's it. Were you one of them?" Mr. Anderson asked.

"Yes, sir." Kurt said. "Well, in time for Sectionals performance, at least."

"Ah, that's that one when I was in Detroit. Awful town. Weren't you supposed to have a dual or something there?" He asked Blaine.

"It was a duet, Dad. And it was with Kurt." Blaine said exasperatedly.

"Oh." Mr. Anderson said, nodding. "Right. Well, Isabel and the maid should have dinner ready soon. Isabel?"

"Yes, Brian, it's almost ready." Mrs. Anderson said, coming back into the living room. "You can all come in and start sitting down, if you like." Mrs. Anderson said, gesturing to the dining room. Jessie was the first to walk in, and Mr. Anderson went second, followed by the boys who were shooting each other frightened looks.

"Kurt, will you take a salad?" Mrs. Anderson asked, and Kurt nodded. She handed him a bowl and took one for herself, as it appeared that Jessie and Mr. Anderson shared Blaine's distaste for greens. The maid continued bringing in food for a few more minutes, and when she melted into the background Mrs. Anderson gestured for everyone to eat.

Kurt took a bite of his salad and looked up to Mrs. Anderson at the end of the table closest to him.

"This salad is delicious, Mrs. Anderson. I really like the berries with this dressing." He said, smiling.

"Thank you, Kurt. The maid made it, I'm not much of a cook" She said, and Kurt smiled awkwardly and returned to his food, glancing over at Blaine next to him, and his father on the far end of the table looking less than thrilled.

"Kurt, it just occurred to me." Mr. Anderson said, and Kurt looked up, his blood chilling. "You said you were on the McKinley team your sophomore year. Was that the year they won a game for the first time in a long time?" He asked. Kurt nodded.

"And you were the kicker." He said. Kurt didn't like where his tone was going.

"Yes, sir." Kurt said, fidgeting his leg around under the table.

"I read a story about that game. Didn't the team dance to some fag song?"

"Daddy, Mrs. Melost said that's not a nice word." Jessie said, putting her fork down from her chicken and looking up at her father. He waved her down with one hand.

"Uh, well, we danced to 'Single Ladies' to distract the other team." Kurt said, blushing. Blaine tried his hardest not to laugh, but he couldn't help but snort, glancing up at Kurt. He blushed.

"What sort of fag comes up with an idea like that? Dancing on the football field. Disgraceful." Mr. Anderson said, mostly to himself. Kurt raised his eyebrows and smirked, and Blaine had to try even harder not to laugh.

"Daddy! That's not a nice word!"

"Jessica, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm a grown man and will say what I please in my own house?" Mr. Anderson snapped, drawing Kurt and Blaine out of their amusement.

"Yes, but we have company, and you should be polite." Jessie said, looking square into her fathers' eyes. Kurt's mouth fell open a little bit watching her.

"Jessica, stop talking back." Mrs. Anderson said, her eyes on her plate.

"Mr. Anderson, it was quite effective, if you'll recall the story." Kurt said, trying to draw the attention away from Jessie before she got in trouble.

"Effective? You know what's effective? Playing the game and not messing around. There's a difference between football and choir, and there's a reason most choir kids aren't cut out for the game." Mr. Anderson said. Kurt frowned.

"Kurt, where are you planning on going to college?" Mrs. Anderson asked in an obvious attempt to change the topic and clear the air.

"NYU." Kurt answered, smiling. He couldn't help but notice Mr. Anderson's look of contempt.

"Blaine's hoping to go to Yale for law." Mrs. Anderson said, her smile positively frightening. Kurt couldn't help but notice Blaine stab his chicken particularly venomously. "What do you plan to study?"

Kurt glanced over at Blaine and then back to his mother, feeling rather caught.

"Fashion design." He said, trying his hardest to hold his smile.

Mr. Anderson _laughed._

Kurt looked down at his plate as Mr. Anderson's laughter hung in the air and no one around the table said a word. Kurt felt like he wanted to hide, to never be seen again. Obviously, the Andersons had figured out that he was gay. He had failed Blaine.

Blaine put his foot next to Kurt's so that their shoes touched. It wasn't much, but it was the only thing keeping him from crying.

The rest of dinner passed mostly quietly. As soon as they had all finished, Kurt excused himself to go home. No one protested. With one sad smile to Blaine and Jessie, he left.

* * *

><p>From his living room, Blaine could hear Kurt's Escalade pulling out of the driveway. He listened to tires crinkling over the cement and looked straight ahead at his father's television, though Sean Hannity's face on the television made him want to turn away in disgust. Not that there was anything he wasn't disgusted with at the moment.<p>

He had seen that look in Kurt's eyes and hadn't been able to do anything about it.

"So I guess that really is a fag school you go to." Mr. Anderson's voice cut through the uncomfortable silence between them, only broken by Hannity's ravings about an abortion practitioner. "Nice to know there are some worse than what you turned out to be, though. That little nansy-boy, does he even have a father? Or was he raised by women like most of those prissy gays?"

"Kurt's mother died when he was little and his father has raised him ever since." Blaine bit out, not looking at his father.

"Some hell of a father, then, raising a gay."

"Yeah, well, you did, too." Blaine heard himself saying before he could stop himself. He was furious about hearing his father call Kurt names, declaring Mr. Hummel an inadequate father. Burt Hummel was twice the father Brian Anderson was.

"Oh, clever. Well at least I didn't raise a pussy bitch of a son like that one." Mr. Anderson muttered. Blaine's face snapped away from the television and he glowered at his father.

"Don't talk about Kurt that way." Blaine ordered in a bossy tone he had never used with his father before. Mr. Anderson's eyes squinted.

"Just because your little gay boyfr-" something in Mr. Anderson's mind clicked as he looked at Blaine's reaction to his words, and his face grew red with fury. Blaine could feel his body dragging him away from his father instinctively, and Blaine was suddenly standing, though his father still held the power in the room from his seat in his chair.

"Get out of my fucking house." He almost growled, and Blaine backed into a wall, not sure whether he should run for his room, the door or stand his ground.

"I SAID OUT!" His father yelled, taking down the footrest of his chair in a crash. Blaine's mother walked into the room between Blaine and Brian, her face worried but attempting to look oblivious.

"What's going on in here?" Isabel asked, looking sharply at Blaine.

"Our fag son is in a fag's relationship with that gay he brought over here tonight, trying to pass off bringing his gayness under my roof as 'just being friends.'" Brian barked. Isabel looked over at Blaine, a worried look on her face, silently pleading for him to deny the claim.

"Is this true, Blaine?" She asked, her voice low and musical in her attempt to be soothing.

"Kurt and I are dating, if that's what you're asking." Blaine said flatly. He watched his mother's eyes drift upward and felt his stomach sink as he realized she was praying.

"Now he fucking admits it, after tainting my house with this shit. OUT! I won't stand for it!" Mr. Anderson said, standing up. Isabel rushed in his direction.

"Calm down, Brian! He's just a boy! It's just a phase!" She said, making Blaine's heart sink with his stomach.

"He's acting on it, Isabel!" Mr. Anderson yelled in his wife's face.

"Blaine, go to your room." Mrs. Anderson turned and commanded before turning back to her husband. Blaine didn't need telling twice; he ran up the stairs two at a time and launched himself into his room before leaning up against a wall, heaving. He could still hear his parents yelling at each other downstairs, debating the seriousness of his sexuality. _It's pretty damn serious, if you ask me,_ Blaine thought, feeling tears come to his eyes. He was leaving tonight, he knew it. His father wouldn't host an actively gay son under his roof, and it was past all denial at this point. Tears pouring from his eyes, he turned into the room ready to pack a suitcase.

Jessie crept into his room, her big brown eyes looking up at him. Blaine's gut wrenched.

"Blaine?"

"Jess, you shouldn't be in here. How much did you hear?" He asked, placing a palm flat against his forehead, his fingers splayed above his head.

"I came through the storm way when I heard Mommy and Daddy yelling," she said. He and Jessie shared a bathroom with doors right next to their bedroom doors, down small hallways from the main upstairs hallway. They had both always been afraid of storms, and when she was younger Jessie would come through the bathroom to sleep in Blaine's room when the storms scared her.

"Is Daddy really going to make you leave this time?" She asked, not moving from where she was standing. Blaine sighed and sat down.

"Yes. Come here." He said, reaching out his arms for Jessie to come sit on his lap. She did, and Blaine tucked her up into a hug.

"Because of Kurt?" She asked, and Blaine could feel her little tears wetting his shirt. He could feel his own tears start again, but he wanted to be brave for her.

"Yes." Blaine said, sighing. "Dating Kurt means that Dad can't avoid the fact that I'm gay anymore."

"You love Kurt, don't you?" She asked, pulling back to look him in the face. Blaine smiled.

"Yes. How'd you know?"

"Mommy says you can't hide true love," _bet she thinks I should,_ Blaine thought bitterly, "Plus I could tell from the way he looks at you that he loves you, and so it just made sense that you loved him back."

"Are you sure you're not older than nine-years-old?" Blaine asked, cocking an eyebrow at her playfully. Jessie giggled and Blaine pulled her in for another hug.

"I love you, Blaine." Jessie murmured. Blaine squeezed her tighter, this time tears falling from his eyes into her dark, curly hair.

"I love you too, Jessie. Don't forget it."

"When do you get to come back?" Blaine's heart sunk as he realized he didn't know the answer.

"I don't know, Jessie. It's not like sending me off to school this time. But I'm still your big brother. You have my phone number. If it changes," _if they cut me off,_ "I'll let you know what the new one is. If you need anything, let me know. If you can't get ahold of me, you remember Wes down the street, right? Go knock on Wes's door, and he'll help you get to me, okay?"

"Okay, Blaine. I have something for you." She said, and ran off out of the room. Blaine sighed, tears pouring from his eyes as he set about pulling his suitcases back out and dropping his clothes back into them from their new places in his drawers. It was strange how easily his life fit back into his suitcases, ready to leave. He piled in the framed pictures he had brought home from Dalton too, and put the one of him and Kurt that had been hiding under his pillow on the top of the pile. As he was looking for his copy of _To Kill a Mockingbird_, Jessie returned, a beaten-up stuffed cat clutched in one hand.

"Mr. Meowington?" Blaine asked, looking at the hand-me-down.

"He was yours before he was mine, and you need him more now." She said, holding the familiar grey cat up to Blaine. Sometime long before his memory, his favorite stuffed animal since toddlerhood had been black with white boots.

"Thanks, Jess." He said solemnly, taking the cat from her and putting it in his suitcase. He turned back around and knelt, opening his arms for another big hug. He thought for a second and sighed. "I want you to take that picture you have of me and hide it, okay? Dad will get mad if he sees it."

"I still get to look at it, right?" Jessie asked, her voice scared.

"All you want. Just don't let him see it, okay?"

"Okay."

"I love you, Jessie. Have some courage for me, okay?" Jessie nodded her head, but tears were coming out of her eyes.

"I love you too, Blaine. I wish you weren't leaving."

"I wish so, too. But I need you to do another thing for me: I need you to go in your room and put your earphones in, okay? Listen to your iPod until no one in the house is yelling anymore. It's about to get really bad and I don't want you to hear it."

"You'll be okay, though?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Yes. Go on. I'll text you later, okay?" He said, setting her on her feet and kissing her forehead before looking her in the eyes.

"Okay." She said, and with a gentle kiss to his cheek she turned around and left his room.

Blaine sat down, holding entirely still for a few seconds. He could hear the ongoing argument downstairs, but the topic had turned. He heard mentions of custody and survival. Blaine realized they had moved on to the old topic of what would happen if they divorced. It was over: he had lost. He knew how this discussion would go. Mrs. Anderson wouldn't qualify for alimony because of her job, and Mr. Anderson would win custody of Jessie. Isabel wouldn't be able to support both herself and Blaine, no matter her salary, and she'd have to pay child support for Jessie as well. She'd have nowhere to go with a son no one could want.

The tears came again. Blaine knew his mother wouldn't leave. He already felt responsible for taking away her happiness. Blaine knew he had ruined his parents' marriage. It only got worse when the fact that his parents had only gotten married because his mother was pregnant with him was factored in.

Choking on tears, Blaine pulled out his cell phone and called his most recent call. It took a single ring for the boy on the other end to answer.

"Hey. I'm driving." Kurt answered, his voice flat.

"Are you on the highway yet?" Blaine asked, eyes scrunched closed at what he had to ask. He heard the wheels rush over to the side of the road and Kurt hastily throw the car in park.

"I was about to be; I stopped for some coffee and was just headed back. I'm stopped now. Blaine, what's wrong? You're not cr-" Kurt asked, his voice rising in worry.

"He's throwing me out, Kurt." Blaine cut into his sentence quietly. Blaine heard a thud over the phone and knew Kurt had sunk into the steering wheel. "Can you call your dad and see if I can spend the night? I don't want to be a burden, but I need someplace to go tonight… and I've got a lot to figure out… and you guys are the only ones who really know what's going on… and…" Blaine rushed, not hiding the tears that were falling.

"Do you need me to come get you?" Kurt interrupted him, and from the break in Kurt's voice halfway through the sentence, Blaine knew he was crying, too.

"Yes. Not for another ten minutes or so… I don't want you just sitting in the driveway." Blaine could throw up at the thought of anything happening to Kurt on his end.

"Okay. I'll be within a block of the house, just text me when you're ready and I'll pull around."

"Thanks, Kurt."

"I love you, Blaine." Kurt said forcefully. Tears came out of Blaine's eyes and he whispered it back, but wasn't sure Kurt had heard it before the call ended.

* * *

><p>Kurt sat there for a few seconds, trying to compose himself, the whispered <em>I love you too, Kurt<em> haunting him as he cried and hung up the phone. Why did this have to happen to Blaine? Kurt sniffed and pulled his phone back up, his fingers quickly pressing the numbers for home. He held it up to his ear and looked up, hoping the tears would stop. "Dad? No, Dad, no… listen… it's about Blaine…"

* * *

><p>After he had everything packed, Blaine sat on the floor, waiting to be addressed again. He could hear the fight downstairs wrapping up, coming back to him. What would they tell people? Would it influence Mr. Anderson's business? How would they explain it to Jessie? Blaine listened as they rationalized him away, their son becoming just another piece of their dirty laundry. Blaine wanted to curl up in a ball and block everything out, but he knew it was coming soon. He sat and waited until the arguing stopped and he heard heavy footsteps on the stairs. Blaine stood, not wanting his father to see him cowering on the floor. His door swung open to reveal the shadowy figure of his father.<p>

"So get out. Go on, take those things we bought you like an ungrateful piece of shit. Get out! I'm done with you." He said, kicking the door and walking away. Blaine took a deep breath and picked up his two suitcases and guitar case, carrying them down the stairs and heading for the door, his fingers fishing his phone out of his pocket to text Kurt.

"Blaine? Do you have anywhere to go?" His mother asked as he approached the door. Blaine turned back to her, no warmth between them.

"For now." Blaine replied sharply, and Isabel nodded and stepped back, accepting her son's coldness.

Blaine walked out, not looking back at his mother as he stepped into the warm summer evening air. He walked to the end of the driveway before pulling out his phone and texting Kurt.

_**Okay. –Blaine.**_

He stood for a minute or so before a vehicle reached his street, and gently it pulled up beside him.

"Blaine!" Kurt exclaimed softly from the open window, and Blaine could see him moving to open the car door.

"Don't get out." Blaine said, and Kurt nodded solemnly.

"Put your bag and guitar in the trunk and get in the back, okay, Darling?" Kurt's voice was so soft and loving that Blaine couldn't keep his composure very well as he did as his boyfriend told him. As soon as Blaine closed the door behind him, Kurt started to drive.

"That drip's for you. I swung by and picked it up at the drive-through on my way back." Kurt said softly. Blaine picked the coffee up from the cup-holder and took an experimental sip, resting his head against the back of Kurt's seat.

"Thank you." He said quietly.

"Does the park here have a curfew?" Kurt asked quietly.

"Eleven."

"It's only nine. Do you want me to stop for a second or wait until we're in Lima?" Kurt asked, turning around to glance at Blaine. He turned back from the road, but reached his arm backward, stretching his hand out for Blaine to take.

"The park." Blaine said, taking Kurt's hand and realizing how much his were shaking.

"Okay." Kurt said gently.

Kurt pulled into the park and parked by an empty playground. He got out of the car and climbed in on the other side than Blaine, but sat on the floor of the car between the seats instead of the seat next to him. Silently, Kurt reached up, brushing the back his fingers down the side of Blaine's face.

"Thanks for coming back for me." Blaine murmured, his eyes closing at Kurt's touch.

"Shh. Of course I did. Dad says you're welcome to stay until we get something permanent figured out." Kurt said gently. "Is there anything you need before we head back?"

Blaine shook his head. Kurt nodded and began to stand up, pressing a kiss to Blaine's forehead. Blaine's arm shifted suddenly, grabbing Kurt's shoulder. Kurt glanced down and saw Blaine's wet eyes peering up at him beseechingly. A groan formed in Kurt's chest at the pained look on Blaine's face, and Kurt swooped down to Blaine's lips.

It wasn't like any kiss they'd ever had, Kurt realized. Tears were pouring from Blaine's eyes as he clutched at Kurt, his fists grabbing Kurt's shirt as though trying to hold anything at all. Kurt was beginning to cry again as well, his lips gentle against Blaine's hard mouth.

They kissed for so long that Kurt had to sit down in the seat next to Blaine's. "I've got you." Kurt would whisper in between kisses, his thumbs sneaking in to wipe away the wet tears Blaine's face. Blaine didn't respond except to press himself closer to Kurt.

Eventually the tears stopped falling from Blaine's eyes and he collapsed against Kurt's chest. Kurt kissed the top of Blaine's head gently and held him tightly.

"I love you so much, Kurt." Blaine whispered into Kurt's chest, and it was all Kurt could do to keep from crying again.

"I love you too, Blaine. Let's get home. Do you want to lay down in the back?" Kurt said, stroking a hand down Blaine's back.

"I…I'd rather be close to you right now." Blaine said quietly. Kurt smiled and pulled Blaine back so he could look at him.

"Then sit up front with me." Blaine frowned, his hand moving to Kurt's face and running down the tracks from Kurt's tears, a guilty look falling over his face. Kurt looked into his eyes, silently scolding Blaine as he took Blaine's hand in his and kissed the fingertips before leaning in and kissing Blaine softly.

* * *

><p>The drive home was almost entirely silent. Blaine sat sideways in his seat, not taking his eyes off of Kurt as he drove, holding his hand except for when Kurt especially needed it to drive. Kurt would glance over at Blaine every several seconds, sighing and stroking Blaine's palm with his thumb.<p>

Eventually they pulled up to the house, and Kurt helped Blaine with one of his bags, continuing to hold Blaine's hand as they walked into the house. In lieu of the usual craziness around the Hummel house at this hour, only Burt was in the living room.

"Hi, Dad." Kurt said, sighing. Burt stood up and walked to them.

"Thank you, Mr. Hummel, for letting me stay tonight." Blaine said, looking down. Burt clapped an arm onto his shoulder, and Blaine looked up. Burt pulled him into a hug, patting the boy on the back. Blaine began to cry again, trying to hide it as Burt let him go.

"Blaine, it's Burt, I've told you this. And don't mention it, of course you can stay. We'll talk about all of this tomorrow; for now just go on down to Kurt's room."

"Mr. Hummel- Burt- I can sleep on the couch or something, really," Blaine said, looking down. But Burt cocked his head to the door.

"Go ahead and go down there. Kurt will follow in a minute, but I need to talk to him first." Blaine nodded and went to take his other bag from Kurt, but Kurt told him that he'd take care of it. Blaine trudged down the stairs, and Kurt looked up at his father.

"Kurt, I'm going to let him stay down there because he shouldn't be alone. But I'm going to tell you, and you're going to listen, that if you do anything tonight, you're taking advantage of him." Burt said sternly. Kurt was too emotionally drained to make a fuss about what his father was implying.

"Yes, Dad."

"I mean it. Now, like I said, we'll talk about this all tomorrow. Go on." He said, and went back to sit down. Kurt picked Blaine's bag back up and went to go downstairs, but saw Annie standing in the hallway to her room.

"Kurt, is he okay?" She asked, leaning up against the wall. Kurt gave her a sad smile.

"He's… alright. I've got him." He said, and Annie nodded.

"Let me know if there's anything I could do." She said, shrugging and tugging on one of her curls with both hands.

"Okay, An." He said, walking up and hugging her before going downstairs.

Blaine was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking down at his phone. Kurt walked over and sat down on the bed next to him, though turned completely toward him, and reached over and took his hand.

"What are you doing?" He asked quietly.

"I texted Jessie to tell her where I am. She says to tell you that she loves you." Blaine said.

"Tell her I love her, too. I'm sorry, Blaine." Kurt said softly, looking down. Blaine's hand tightened around his.

"Kurt, there's nothing to be sorry for." He said, his honest eyes peering into Kurt's, still wet.

"I should have tried harder. Lied. Something." Kurt said, but Blaine shook his head.

"You shouldn't have had to do anything at all." Blaine said forcefully. "I'm sorry for how my father treated to you. He was awful."

"It's nothing like you've gone through with him. And I still can't help but feel that it's partially my fault, Blaine."

"Kurt. If it makes you feel better, this had to happen eventually. I couldn't keep fighting off being in a relationship until I was out of college. That would be hell! I've told you before that I had fifty bad reasons for not figuring myself out about you earlier, and I'm telling you now that he was one of them. But no matter what, I can't keep hiding from life just because it's inconvenient for him. And being with you… you… convinced me that it's time for me to live now and deal with the consequences."

"I still feel like there's something I could have done to avoid this." Kurt said softly.

"Because you have the biggest heart in the world." Blaine said, giving him a soft, sad smile that Kurt returned before kissing him softly.

"It's been a long day. Do you want to go take a shower? I know that always makes me feel better." Kurt said softly.

"You just don't want me to get hair gel on your pillow." Blaine said knowingly, and Kurt blushed and grinned. Blaine kissed him on the cheek. "I will, though. Just for you." He said, getting up and digging through his suitcases for the things he'd need for bed.

After Blaine went into the bathroom, Kurt went about changing into his pajamas and doing his nightly moisturizing. Blaine walked out just as Kurt was putting on the last of his lotions. He gave Blaine another soft smile as he gestured to the bed. Blaine went over and climbed in carefully, as though afraid to move the covers. Kurt shut off the lights and walked back over, climbing into bed and taking his boyfriend gently in his arms.

"I love you, Kurt." Blaine said, snuggling into Kurt's body. Kurt kissed him on top of his damp, curly hair.

"I love you too, Blaine." Kurt whispered, stroking down his back and listening as Blaine's breathing slowed and the older boy fell asleep.

**Author's Note: And… and… we have sad. The sheer excitement in the reviews from last week has completely convinced me of how sadistic this fandom can be. But here we go. I have to say, this chapter was hard to write. Luckily, I had enough time while waiting for Pottermore to open up to write it (I got in!) **

**I hope you all liked this chapter.**

**Note: I do not condone the use of language displayed by Mr. Anderson in this chapter (as evidenced by the reaction of our fierce and fearless heroine Jessie :) ).**


	17. Chapter 17: Aftermath

Annie walked into the kitchen to find her uncle eating a bowl of cereal at the table, flicking through channels on the TV.

"Good morning, Uncle Burt." Annie said, pulling a bagel out of a basket on the counter.

"Morning, Annie. Any sign from the boys as you came through?" Burt asked, looking up. Annie shook her head. Burt nodded.

"I checked in on them last night and they were already asleep at half past ten. They should be up soon, but I have to get to work. Tell them I'll come home over lunch and we'll talk." He said, and Annie nodded. He looked up at her again. "You know, Annie, you're starting to look a lot like your mother. Man, she used to tease me and Elizabeth." Annie smiled.

"She's told me this before, but how old were you when you started dating Aunt Elizabeth?" Annie asked, trying to remember as she sat down at the table across from him.

"Elizabeth and I were fifteen, freshmen in high school. Your mom was two years older, of course. She was so angry your grandpa allowed Elizabeth to date before she was sixteen."

"But he liked you." Annie said, remembering the story. Burt nodded.

"Yes. I was head over heels for Elizabeth long before she realized I existed. But I better go. Remember to tell the boys, so they're ready. Just… just don't disturb them, okay?"

"Okay, Uncle Burt." Annie said, "I guess I'll see you at lunch."

* * *

><p>Kurt opened his eyes, to find Blaine still curled into his chest, his curly black hair soft under his chin. He had fallen into a very conscious sleep last night, not sure what to do. He had fallen asleep next to Blaine a few times, and this topped the first time on the amount of hell that could be involved. After that first, awkward time, the rest had been peaceful after trying something new between them.<p>

This time it was because Blaine's world had been ripped apart.

Looking at the sunlight coming through the window, he sighed. Blaine mumbled and turned over a little bit, a cur landing just where it tickled right below his bottom lip. He tried to blow it out of the way, but it wouldn't move. He reached up to smooth it out of the way, and Blaine fidgeted again, this time clearly waking up.

"Kurt?" He mumbled into the younger boy's chest, making Kurt's heart leap.

"I'm here." He said softly, stroking Blaine's hair. Blaine exhaled, tilting his head to where his forehead was flush against Kurt's chest.

"It wasn't a nightmare, then." He said, and Kurt gave a strangled groan and held Blaine close. The two remained quiet until Kurt's stomach growled.

"You're hungry." Blaine said, and Kurt shrugged.

"You going to come upstairs with me?" He asked.

"Yeah." Blaine mumbled, rolling over to sit up and rubbing his eyes.

The boys went about brushing their teeth and combing their hair, and Blaine used the restroom while Kurt sat doing his lotion routine.

"I don't feel so great," Blaine said, walking back into the bedroom as Kurt dabbed away some extra lotion. "You have my hoodie, right? I don't think I grabbed one…" he mumbled, looking around. Kurt got up and went to his drawer and took the red hoodie out, handing it to Blaine.

"Thanks. I'm still going to let you have it, I just want to wear it for now." Blaine said, sighing.

"Don't worry about it." Kurt said, kissing him on the cheek. Blaine slid the hoodie on over the t-shirt he was wearing with his pajamas.

Kurt couldn't help but notice just how cute Blaine looked. His hair was just barely combed, still misshapen from sleep. He hadn't bothered to shave, and had the tiniest bit of stubble visible across his chin. The hoodie came down over his fingers, unlike when Kurt wore it and it was too short on his wrists.

Kurt loved this boy, loved him so much it physically constricted him to see Blaine so sad. Sure, he knew he loved Blaine while they were laughing, joking or singing together. He was almost physically overwhelmed by it when they were fooling around. But seeing Blaine so completely vulnerable gave Kurt a grasp of just how much he would do to for Blaine to be happy and carefree. It wasn't because of all the things Blaine had done for Kurt, or even the contrast between the confident Blaine Kurt had always admired and this tiny, sad little man. It was just _love_ and the need to do all he could.

Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine from behind, his shoulders bending over Blaine's and his arms crossing the boy's chest as he nuzzled his face into the side of Blaine's head and the dip of his neck. He kissed Blaine's jaw and felt the older boy sink backwards into his arms. He held tighter, wrapping Blaine closer as Blaine released more and more tension until only Kurt's presence was holding him up.

And he began to cry.

Kurt allowed Blaine to turn around in his arms, pulling the older boy to him even tighter than before now that his soft front was available as opposed to the solid line of his spine. Blaine was still basically limp in his arms, digging his face into Kurt's chest as he cried.

"I'm sorry I'm like this. I shouldn't be like this." Blaine said, bracing himself in an attempt to pull away. Kurt pulled back on him tighter.

"It's okay, Blaine. I'm here. " Kurt said, pressing kisses along the top of Blaine's head.

"You shouldn't have to deal with me like this. You shouldn't even have to see me like this." Blaine said, pulling his arms up and trying to wipe at his eyes. Kurt pulled his hands down gently, leaning in and pressing his lips against Blaine's slightly open ones. Blaine's lips were soft and dry, the delicate curves pliant under the press of his own. Blaine allowed Kurt to kiss him as he clutched at the younger boy's shirt, wavering in his arms.

"Please don't feel like you can't cry in front of me." Kurt whispered, taking his lips off of Blaine's and moving his hands up to Blaine's face, bracing his elbows around Blaine's shoulders as he wiped tears away from Blaine's face with his thumbs. He looked straight into Blaine's hazel eyes as he spoke, noticing the scared expression there that he worried wouldn't fade. "Blaine, I love you. I'm here for you whenever you need me." He said, stroking Blaine's face with the gentlest touch he could manage. He swallowed and looked into Blaine's eyes. "I always will be."

Kurt wasn't superstitious, and didn't believe in jinxes. But he knew from experience that his life tended to work like dramatic foreshadowing, and just when he assumed something, it went wrong. The idea of always being there for Blaine didn't scare him; it was actually what he hoped for more than anything. But saying it out loud, offering it up to that world of irony and hurt, it scared him more than anything.

But Blaine needed to hear it. The older boy slumped into Kurt's touch at the sound of the words, wrapping his arms around Kurt in turn and sighing into his chest.

"Thank you."

Kurt kissed the top of Blaine's head again, stroking his back gently. They stayed like that until Blaine's breathing evened out and his eyes dried.

"We can go eat now. Really." Blaine whispered, and Kurt kissed his temple.

"We'll lay back down after breakfast." Kurt said, and Blaine nodded. Kurt clutched his hand tightly, and the two walked upstairs and out into the kitchen.

Annie was sitting fully dressed at the table, reading a book. She looked up to see the boys.

"Morning." She said quietly, putting her bookmark in her book and standing up, walking to them. "Finn's at football practice. Uncle Burt and Carole are at work. Uncle Burt says he'll be back at lunch to talk to you." She said, looking hesitantly at Blaine. Blaine nodded. Annie's voice was quiet and soothing, if hesitant. He felt a little embarrassed that she knew, but the kindness in her face was so like Kurt's that he couldn't help but be grateful.

"Thanks, Annie." He said quietly, and the slightly older girl quickly stepped forward and pulled him down into a hug. They hugged for a few seconds before she stepped back, and Blaine gave her a small smile.

"An, do you know where my notebook is? I need to cancel with the people who signed up for me to measure them today." Kurt said, taking Blaine's hand back. Annie gestured to the counter behind her.

"Right there."

"Kurt, you can still do your appointments." Blaine said, tugging on Kurt's hand. Kurt shook his head and flipped the notebook open to his time slots.

"It's fine, Blaine. Besides, if Dad wants to talk at noon, I'm not even sure we'll make it to practice today." Kurt said, pulling his phone out of his pajama pocket.

"You don't need to stay home from practice for me."

"Don't be stupid." Kurt said, scrolling through his contacts.

"Wait." Annie said, and the boys both looked up. "What do we tell Rachel and Mercedes?"

Kurt turned to Blaine, who sighed.

"Do you want me to explain it to Rachel now?" Kurt asked, and Blaine nodded. Kurt flicked to Rachel's name and dialed as Annie helped Blaine find some Toaster Strudels and make them for himself and Kurt.

"Hey Rach … A lot, actually … Yeah, that's actually why I'm calling. It didn't go well." Kurt said, and Blaine imagined sinking into the ground to avoid the embarrassment. "Yes. He's at my house. I don't know if we're going to make it to practice today. … Yeah, he's right here." Kurt said, and held his hand over the bottom of his phone as he looked over at Blaine. "She wants to know if you can talk."

Blaine nodded and took the phone gently.

"Hi, Rachel."

"Blaine! Are you okay? Do you need anything? Did anything happen except kicking you out? If something happened, we can find some people who can…"

"Rachel, I'm okay." Blaine said, and Rachel shut up immediately. "I have everything I need for now, thank you."

"You have stuff, though?" She asked again, her voice quieter and less assertive.

"Yeah. I got two bags out, so that's the basics in terms of clothes and a few other things like my laptop. Oh, and my guitar."

"Are you sure there isn't anything you need that I can bring you?"

"I think I'm good, Rachel. Thank you." Blaine said.

"Okay." Rachel said softly. "Text me if you think of something."

"I'll see you later, Rachel." Blaine said, and the line went dead. He looked up to Kurt, who was putting the toaster strudels on a plate.

"Well, hey, I'm going to get back to my book. Let me know if you guys need anything." Annie said, giving him another hug before picking up a box of crackers and her book from the table and walking out of the room.

"You're really not expecting me to eat these, are you?" Kurt asked, scrunching his nose. Blaine smiled and kissed him on the cheek, putting the phone back in Kurt's pocket.

"You can't expect me to eat four by myself." Blaine said, picking up the icing packets he had put on the edge of the toaster to melt. He opened one and began to write with it across a pastry, the words blending together and looking more like indistinguishable loops than the words "Eat Me."

"Is that the strudel talking or you?" Kurt asked, and Blaine laughed, picking it up and holding it up to Kurt's mouth. Kurt shook his head, and Blaine tapped it against Kurt's lips, some of the icing sticking to his mouth in a white string. Blaine tried to distract himself from the imagery it entailed, and instead grabbed Kurt's ass firmly in his hand. Okay, maybe that wasn't distracting… but when Kurt gasped Blaine firmly slid the pastry into his mouth. The younger boy made a face and bit down, tearing a piece of the pastry and eating it. He tried to make the most disgusted faces possible, but he ducked his head back in for a second bite willingly.

Blaine watched him eat, his little teeth sinking into the pastry and chewing it quietly. When he finished, Kurt took a pack of icing and began to write on a second pastry, his words distorted with the cooling icing. Blaine looked over and smiled as he read, "These things are GROSS."

Kurt held the pastry up, and Blaine devoured it quickly, making the most obscene noises he possibly could, making Kurt giggle, especially when he started acting like he would bite Kurt's fingers if they were in the way.

Blaine reached over for another strudel, picking up a third pastry and writing in jerky letters, "Hurry up I want to go cuddle," the last letters trailing back up the edge as he ran out of room. Kurt snorted, but did indeed eat the pastry a little quicker this time, smiling up at Blaine with his big, bright blue eyes. After he finished he started to lick the filling off of his lips, but Blaine leaned in and kissed him, sucking the berry filling off before pulling away, his eyes soft.

Kurt grabbed the last pastry and filling packet, blocking it from Blaine's sight with his shoulder. When he held it up to Blaine's face, Blaine reached over and took Kurt's other hand gently, entwining their fingers as he ate the pastry that said "I [a big heart took up much of the pastry] U BLAINE" in choppy white letters.

* * *

><p>"Good morning, Rachel." Hiram said, taking a sip of his coffee as he walked into the living room. "You look down, Starlet. Everything okay?"<p>

"I'm just worried about Blaine." Rachel said, closing her magazine. Hiram frowned.

"Did things go poorly with his parents?" Hiram asked, looking back into the kitchen. Leroy quickly walked up to join him.

"They kicked him out." Rachel said quietly, looking up. The men exchanged glances, and Hiram bit his lip.

"Where's he living?" Leroy asked.

"He's at Kurt's now. I don't think he'll be able to stay there long."

"Leroy…" Hiram said, and the black man took his husband's hand gently.

"Rachel, let us know if he needs anything, okay? We're going to go talk." Leroy said gently.

"Okay, Daddy." Rachel said, smiling up softly from her chair as her fathers exited the room.

* * *

><p>"Kurt, Blaine!" Burt called, walking into the kitchen, bags full of fast food in his hands. The boys entered the room dressed lazily, their slow movements indicating that they had been lying down.<p>

"Dad!" Kurt admonished, and Burt put the bags down on the table and raised his hands in surrender before pulling out two salads and a burger.

"I have a feeling your boyfriend is actually carnivorous." Burt said, passing Blaine the burger and pulling out an accompanying bag of fries.

"I eat meat…" Kurt pouted smiling. Blaine grinned.

"Actually, it's omnivorous, seeing as I do eat _some_ plants." He said, and Kurt just stared at him and blinked a few times before laughing as the two boys sat down.

"I brought Annie some chicken nuggets, too. Would you mind if she sat with us?" Burt asked, and Blaine shook his head.

"She'll find out eventually." He said, and Burt called Annie into the room. Finn followed her in, arguing about what sounded like Harry Potter.

"I don't see what your problem is, it's not like it made a huge difference. And the fight scene was cool!"

"It made a huge difference, Finn. The integrity of the story lies on the power of love, not the battles involved. The deaths and their implications were more important than adding fight scenes."

"Umm, no, the point of the story is that Voldemort dies." Finn said, and Annie literally smacked herself in the forehead.

"Don't argue with her, Finn." Kurt interrupted quickly. "She wants to be an author and has twice your grade point average. She knows her books."

"This isn't about books, this is about movies." Finn said, and Kurt thought his cousin might actually faint. "Any food for me?" He said, looking around.

"There are two burgers in that sack." Burt said after taking Annie's food out for her and handing him the sack. Finn got the hint and left the room, taking out a fry and eating it as he went.

"I like you even better now." Blaine said to Annie, who grinned and sat down. Burt sat down as well, and after a minute of everyone beginning to eat, he looked up at the boys.

"First thing's first. I need to know what happened last night." Burt said, and the boys sighed. They exchanged glances, and Blaine began to explain. He told Burt about the direction to have Kurt over, and the pressure of what would happen if they were found out. He grew exceptionally quiet and stared at his food as he told Burt and Annie how his father had treated Kurt. He felt guilt wash over him at having let it happen, not being able to look Burt in the eye. Then he told them all what happened after Kurt left, and what he had been able to pack.

And he told them about saying goodbye to Jessie. Kurt made a strangled noise in his throat and started stroking Blaine's back as he told them about how scared she was that she wouldn't even be allowed to look at a picture of him.

They stayed quiet for a few minutes, and then Burt nodded.

"But no violence." He said, and Blaine shook his head.

"No, Sir."

"Blaine, you don't have to call me Sir. I don't want you to." He said, and Blaine gave a small smile.

"Now, Blaine, is there _any chance_ that this can blow over and be fine?" Burt asked, and Blaine shook his head.

"No. I think it's genuinely over now." Blaine said, and Burt nodded his head.

"I think you know as well as I do that we'll need to find something more permanent for you, but until then you are more than welcome to stay here. And I don't want you to feel in any way obligated to us. If anything, we'll make that father of yours pay; he sounds like he has a lot of money." Blaine smiled.

"Thank you." He said quietly.

"Is there any family we can contact, Blaine?" Burt asked, and Blaine shook his head.

"I don't have any aunts or uncles, and my grandparents live in New York. I'd rather… I'd rather stay near here for now, if I can." Blaine said, and Burt nodded. "I don't expect to be able to still go to Dalton," he went on, "But I don't want to go too far right now."

"You want to go to McKinley." Burt said, and Blaine nodded, looking down again.

"Yes. I just… I just want to be where I know at least some people." He explained.

"That's understandable." Burt said. "Do you know any families in Lima?" He asked gently.

"Not well." Blaine said, and Burt nodded.

"We'll figure something out. I'm going to put myself in charge of figuring it out, Blaine." Burt said, and Blaine looked up in gratitude. "But I do need to get in contact with your father. I think the four of us need to have a little chat."

* * *

><p>"We can still make it to practice if you two want to go." Annie observed after Burt left, angry after having to leave a message with Brian Anderson's secretary instead of getting through to him himself. Kurt looked over at Blaine, who shrugged.<p>

"I need to talk to Wes, anyway." Blaine said. "And David, too, I guess."

"Okay. Kurt said, walking to the counter and picking up his keys. "HEY FINN, WANT TO RIDE WITH US TO PRACTICE?" He called, and Finn came bounding down the staircase.

"Full lid?" Annie asked, and the three boys looked at her like she was crazy. She rolled her eyes. "Sorry, former-White House-correspondent's daughter. Mum's the word?"

"Are you British?" Finn asked, and Kurt couldn't help but think that he and Brittany were _perfect_ for each other.

"It means don't talk about it." Kurt spelled out clearly, and Finn nodded, comprehending and looking to Blaine like the rest of them.

"Yeah. I mean, don't strain yourselves to keep it quiet or anything." Blaine said, shrugging. "But I'd rather it not be the new gossip." He said, and the three nodded.

* * *

><p>As soon as they walked into the auditorium, Blaine was overtaken by a cooing Rachel Berry. She held him tightly, ranting quickly about how she was so sorry about what happened to him and how she hoped he was alright, and that he didn't need to be there and if he felt like crying she would completely understand and he could leave immediately, and…<p>

"Hi, Rachel." Blaine said, his voice constricted by how tightly she was holding him. Annie stepped up and pried Rachel's arms, away, leading her over to the side with a gentle hand on her back.

"Sorry, I just…" Rachel began, but Blaine held up a hand.

"It's fine, Rachel, really." He said, leaning in and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "But can we avoid the subject?" He whispered, and she blushed and nodded.

"Rachel." Came a deep voice, and Jesse walked up and put an arm around Rachel's shoulder. She tried to sidestep back toward Blaine, but the boy held her in place. Finn scowled.

"Jesse." He stepped forward. Jesse kept his cool.

"Gentlemen." He nodded to Finn, Kurt and then Blaine. "Sorry, don't think we've met. Jesse St. James." Jesse said, extending his other hand. Blaine raised his eyebrows, but took it.

"Blaine Anderson."

"Oh, so you're Kurt's boyfriend." Jesse said flatly. Both boys raised their eyebrows. Rachel was still trying unsuccessfully to get out from under his arm.

"How did you know that?" Kurt asked, his tone dripping with suspicion.

"I do my research, relax. Have to know what's going on with everyone's favorite underdog show choir." He turned to Annie and frowned. "But I'm not even sure who you could even be."

"Annie Shriver. Kurt's cousin." Annie said primly, crossing her arms.

"Charmed."

"Introductions are nice and all, St. James, but instead of you asking who people are maybe I should ask why you have your arm around my girlfriend when she clearly doesn't want it there." Finn said sharply, taking another step closer. Jesse glanced down at Rachel.

"Method acting. I am playing her love interest, you know. Didn't realize you were uncomfortable there, Rachel." He said, letting go. Rachel quickly backed away over to Annie.

"Yeah, well, how about you have some consideration when you're doing your acting, hmm?" Finn said rather unimpressively, attempting to make up for it by looming over him.

"Of course, how foolish of me." Jesse said, stepping back and gesturing to them all before walking away.

"Asshole." Kurt muttered, his eyes following Jesse and settling upon two boys he favored a great deal more.

"Did you say you needed to talk to Wes and David?" He asked Blaine softly. The older boy nodded and saw where the two were, standing with Nick and Trent and doing something involving a bouncy ball.

"Yeah. I'll go do that." He said, and Kurt waved him off. Blaine walked down to his four possibly former classmates.

"Hey, look who got away from the embraces of love!" David said, smacking him on the back. The look Blaine returned him was anything but amused.

"Realize which school you go to, Blaine?" Trent asked jovially, and Blaine allowed them all to laugh at his expense before taking Wes and David by the elbows.

"I need to talk to you two." He said, and both boys looked at him sharply.

"Sure." Wes said, and shrugging to the two others, they followed him outside.

"Blaine, are you okay?" David asked, now paying attention to Blaine's face as they got out into the sunlight. Blaine sighed and looked around, and after seeing that the coast was clear, looked back up to meet their concerned expressions.

"My dad kicked me out." He said quietly, gulping as he saw his friends' mouths fall open.

"Like… like for good?" Wes asked, staring at him. Blaine shrugged and looked down.

"I think so, yeah."

"_Why?_" Wes asked.

"In a word? Kurt." Blaine said. David let out a frustrated moan and sat down on the stone wall of a flowerbed. Wes shortly joined him. Blaine sat down right where he was in the middle of the sidewalk, picking grass from a break in the cement.

"Are you coming back in the fall, then?" David asked after a while. Blaine shook his head.

"I don't think so."

"Well, there goes our best candidate to replace Thad on the Warbler Council. But, Blaine… where are you living?" Wes asked. Again, Blaine shook his head, curling his feet up to his body.

"I don't know. I'm staying with Kurt for now, but I have to find somewhere else."

"Anything we can do?" David asked. Blaine looked to Wes.

"I told Jessie that if she needs me and can't get ahold of me, to find you and have you help her. Is that okay?"

"Of course it is." Wes said, nodding. Blaine smiled.

"Thanks."

"Don't worry about it. Really, if there's anything we can do, you know you have us, right?"

"Right." Blaine said, gratitude seeping through him.

"Even if this school does steal you from us like it stole Kurt." Wes continued, and Blaine couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

><p>"Mercedes, are you back here?" Kurt called, walking backstage. "I need to know your thoughts on… whoa." Kurt said, backing away at the sight of his best friend kissing a certain familiar blonde boy in the green room. "Uh, whoops, sorry."<p>

He started to turn tail and run, but Mercedes caught him by the back of his collar and turned him around.

"Hi!" She said brightly, and Kurt turned back around and then frowned.

"What is on your head?"

"My new weave, don't you like it?" Mercedes said, swishing the long black weave around her face and grinning.

"Uh, umm… I'm going to go sit down... right…" Sam said awkwardly, walking past and down through the stage and into the seats.

"It's not very you." Kurt said carefully, and it was true. Mercedes' usual shoulder length style fit her personality much better than this long glamour style with bangs and light curls.

"We're going to be seniors. New leaf. Are we about to start?" Mercedes asked, rushing. Kurt liked this less and less.

"Mercedes, why exactly are you looking for a new leaf?" He asked, and she floundered before managing something coherent.

"Because I like it?"

"You like it?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It's just taking some getting used to." Mercedes said, starting to drag him back to the auditorium.

* * *

><p>"Annie!" Artie said, wheeling up to her. Startled out of her reverie, the short girl looked down and smiled.<p>

"Hi, Artie!" She said, sitting down on the edge of an aisle seat and facing him. "How are you?" She asked, and Artie shrugged.

"Oh, you know. Decent." Artie said, and Annie nodded.

"I hear you've had some girlfriends." She said, cocking her head. Artie rolled his eyes.

"I think I've learned that girls can be more trouble than they're worth." He said, sighing and looking over at Brittany, who was braiding Santana's hair on the floor in front of the stage.

"The blonde, right? And the Asian girl? They're pretty." Annie said, looking over at them. Tina and Mike were trying to find ways to adapt the character of Tiger Lily into tap. Artie sighed again.

"I'm pretty sure they're both more interested in others than in me." He said softly, and Annie frowned.

"Well, then, they're silly." Annie said, reaching over and squeezing Artie's hand. He smiled at her.

"What about you?" He asked, "Still terrorizing every boy who comes near you?"

"Basically." Annie said with a little smile, laughing.

"You'd think at least one of them would have gotten brave by now." Artie said, but Annie shook her head. "Not even down in Illinois?"

"Especially not down in Illinois." Annie said, and Artie shook his head in disbelief.

"Ridiculous. The one girl I know can fend for herself, and she doesn't even get a chance." Artie said.

"You make it sound like all boys are monsters." Annie teased.

"Sometimes we can be." Artie said, glancing back over at Brittany.

* * *

><p>"Kurt!" Wes and David said, patting him on the back as he joined them halfway back in the auditorium. Blaine gave him a small smile and took his hand gently.<p>

"Uh oh, looks like Jeff is arguing with the scary one about wanting a solo again." Wes said, looking up. And sure enough, there was the bottle-blonde Warbler arguing with Rachel by the sound booth.

"She doesn't look scary." David said, and Blaine and Kurt's eyebrows shot northward.

"Oh, she's scary, trust me." Kurt said.

"Horrifying. In the best-intentioned way possible." Blaine said, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Only occasionally. Most of the time she's just diabolical." Kurt said, though he didn't really believe his own words.

"Well," David said, frowning and looking back to the miniscule girl at the sound booth, "I think we better run an intervention regardless. Come on, Wes." He said, and the two went off.

"How'd that go?" Kurt asked, putting the hand not in Blaine's on his boyfriend's arm. Blaine sighed.

"As well as it could. What's on Mercedes's head?" He asked, looking up. Kurt sighed.

"She's 'turning over a new leaf.' Which tells me that something's up, probably with Sam."

"You don't think he'd tell her to do that, do you?" Blaine asked.

"No. But there's also the fact that it looks eerily like Santana's hair." Kurt said.

"What does this have to do with Santana?"

"He dated her. And Quinn. Actually… shit." Kurt said, putting his face in his hands. Blaine peeled them off gently.

"Care to explain?"

"Mercedes has been eating all diet food and salads when I've seen her lately." Kurt said, rubbing his forehead into his hand. "Dammit, Mercedes, we've been down this road before." He said, rubbing his forehead.

"You think she's doing all of these things for Sam?" Blaine asked, and Kurt nodded.

"I don't have time to worry about it right now, though. Come on, let's start practice." He said, and the two walked to meet Annie, the glossy Mercedes and the newly liberated Rachel on the stage.

* * *

><p>Upon arriving home that afternoon, Burt was already waiting for them in the living room.<p>

"Have a good practice?" He asked the four kids staying under his roof, and they all shrugged and nodded a little bit. "Finn, your mother wants you up in our room, she needs to vacuum under our loveseat and won't let me lift it."

"Got it." He said, and darted up the stairs. Getting the drift, Annie excused herself to get back to reading, citing that she was at a really exciting part.

"Your dad got back to me this afternoon, Blaine." Burt said, and Blaine nodded, dry-mouthed. "He's willing to meet us tomorrow evening for dinner, if that's okay with you." He said.

"Yeah. That's… that'll work." Blaine said, still nodding.

"And one more thing, the Berrys called. They'd like to have you over for lunch tomorrow."

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry to take so long on this one… it's always hard to pick back up after such a big emotional peak. Plus I've been ready to move back to school this weekend, so I haven't had as much time to write.**

**I'm going to answer a few things I've been asked about, because I feel they'll clarify a few things.**

**One: The basement. See, I'm going mainly off seeing these episodes once or twice around the time they aired. Somehow, I missed "new house" during the season, and it took me thinking back to realize Kurt went **_**upstairs**_** during Prom Queen. Whoops. I'm going to keep Kurt in the basement since that's where I've started… plus it's really convenient for my purposes (why would they take him out of the basement right when it became useful? Meanie writers.) **

**Kurt's car: I know absolutely **_**nothing**_** about cars, you have to realize. I don't even drive. So I googled Kurt's car, and the top results all said and Escalade, so I ran with it. But most fics say it's a Navigator. So… umm… I'm probably wrong. Sorry?**

**And lastly, Blaine's age: Honestly, the writers don't even know Blaine's age (I think he's been a junior all along, and they only decided to make Kurt one when they came up with the plotline for Prom Queen). So I kept him at a junior's age, and even made their birthdates much closer together because I couldn't resist making Kurt a Gemini and Blaine an Aries based on their compatibility and individual traits lining up with the characters, lol. **

**So… I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for all the reviews on the last one, you guys are the sweetest 3 And this story has 100 reviews! So cool! I was really excited; so glad you guys like the story!**


	18. Chapter 18: Crossroads and Meals

Blaine woke up to the feel of Kurt's fingers stroking through his hair, skimming back on his scalp and making his curls wind together in unusual combinations. Before he opened his eyes he took stock of how he could feel Kurt's breath against the side of his face and feel their legs intertwined. He opened his eyes and looked over to his smiling boyfriend, allowing himself to smile as well.

Because, really, waking up to this, how could he not?

Kurt's hair was tousled with sleep and Blaine could see bits of crust at the insides of his eyes. But he was, undoubtedly, beautiful. Blaine had always appreciated the sheer beauty Kurt possessed; a rare quality put off by his perfectly smooth features, perfect coloring and tall, strong frame.

And here he was, coxing Blaine awake gently, nothing but love in his eyes.

"Good morning." Blaine murmured, reaching over to put a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. Kurt smiled and leaned over, bringing himself close against Blaine's face.

"Good morning." Kurt said softly, kissing Blaine's temple. "I have a good feeling."

"You do?" Blaine asked, wondering what his boyfriend was talking about. Surely he didn't mean a good feeling down there, because not only did morning wood suck, but Blaine knew Kurt didn't have much patience and didn't think he'd be playing with his hair if he did…

"I think good things are going to happen for you today." Kurt said, kissing Blaine on his cheekbone.

Oh, that sort of good feeling. Well, given the circumstances, that was probably a better sign.

"What happened to my pessimist?" Blaine pouted, watching Kurt attempt to roll his eyes-but not quite manage out of slight embarrassment. It was true, Kurt never admitted optimism about _anything_.

"He's had more than enough chance to show lately." Kurt said, making Blaine grin.

"Do you have a mint or something? Because I have an overwhelming desire to kiss you senseless right now." He said, and Kurt blushed and smiled before rolling away from him. He protested, but Kurt merely reached into his bedside table before rolling back over and straddling him, flipping the mint case open and pouring a couple into Blaine's hand and taking some for himself as well. Kurt watched as Blaine chomped the mints, laughing and trying to bite his as well but not succeeding.

"Hurry up." Blaine said, putting his hands on Kurt's hips as the younger boy started grinding the mints between his molars in attempt to get them to disintegrate faster.

"My teeth are too small!" He whined, still pressing them together in an effort to break the mints. Blaine laughed, rubbing up and down on Kurt's waist.

"Come on!" Blaine whined.

"You don't even like mints!" Kurt protested, finally getting one to break and working on the second one.

"I don't care, I want my tongue in your mouth." Blaine grumbled, and Kurt slammed his teeth down, breaking the other mint and running it around his mouth before swallowing hastily, leaning down and pressing his mouth to Blaine's. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's back, pulling him down harder against his mouth and quickly thrusting his tongue into Kurt's mouth. Kurt moaned, laying himself nearly flat against Blaine as Blaine bucked up into him.

At the sound of Blaine's moan, Kurt drew his face away, frustrating Blaine. He couldn't help but remember his father's words. But Blaine _seemed_ in a good enough mood this morning, right? But when Kurt remembered the morning before, he realized that it was definitely too soon.

"We should stop." Kurt whispered. Blaine opened his eyes sharply.

"Your dad should be at work already." He said, glancing over at the clock, but Kurt shook his head, climbing off of Blaine's torso and sitting next to him, bringing his thighs up to his chest and resting his head between his knees.

"That's not it, Blaine."

"What's wrong?" Blaine asked, sitting up. "You only sit like that when something's wrong." What he wasn't saying was that Kurt only sat like that when _Kurt had done _something wrong.

"It's nothing, let's go get breakfast." Kurt said, biting his lip and moving to get off the bed. Kurt grabbed his hand, lacing his fingers through Kurt's.

"Kurt."

"I just don't think this may be a bad time for this sort of thing." Kurt said, still not looking at Blaine. Blaine sighed, and Kurt could hear the frustration in his voice.

"I'm not so fragile from abandonment that I'm going to crumble to pieces, Kurt." Blaine said. Kurt winced at how harsh he sounded. Blaine blinked at Kurt's reaction, instantly wishing he could take the words back.

"Blaine, you're kind of misdirecting emotions right now, and I'd rather not be the target of that. So this isn't the time for that sort of thing." Kurt said, his voice colder, more withdrawn than Blaine had heard in months.

_Like I just did. _"That wasn't about emotions! This was about me being a seventeen-year-old who hasn't gotten off since Saturday!" Blaine said, his voice a little weaker. Kurt sighed.

"Then you stay here and do whatever you need to do while I'm in the shower." Kurt said, standing up and climbing off the bed, walking to the door.

"No, I'm not just going to sit here and get off in my boyfriend's room while he's clearly mad at me!" Blaine said, standing up as well. Kurt took a deep breath and grabbed some clothes from the dresser.

"Then just get ready for breakfast. And I'm not mad at you." He said, walking into the bathroom. But from the way Kurt hadn't met his eyes since he had raised his voice, Blaine knew that Kurt was lying.

* * *

><p>Annie walked into the kitchen to see Kurt and Blaine eating breakfast on opposite sides of the table, not looking at each other. With a double take, she realized that it was more than just not looking at each other. Blaine looked down into his bowl of cereal with a guilty sadness, flickering his eyes up at Kurt every few seconds. Kurt was that stony sort of silent he became when he shut down, drew away from others. He looked at his bagel as though nothing was wrong, but Annie noticed that his eyes didn't stray from it except when both his and Blaine's had followed her as she entered the room before falling into their previous states.<p>

Drawing a bagel from the bag, Annie looked over at Blaine.

"I don't know what you did, but now would be the time to fix it." She said before walking back out of the kitchen, leaving them alone. Blaine's eyes flickered up to Kurt's face, but he didn't avert them.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry." He said quietly, almost a whisper. Kurt sighed, looking up.

"I'm really not mad at you." He said, shifting uncomfortably and almost looking back down, but deciding to keep his eyes on Blaine. He watched Blaine's fingers stir his cereal uselessly.

"You were right. I'm misdirecting emotions. But, Kurt, when you stopped and just left me like that…" He said, and at that Kurt looked up at him sharply, straight into his eyes.

"I'm not leaving you, Blaine." He said forcefully, his fingers tearing at his bagel a little bit. He looked at Blaine, seeing how tired he was. He had bags under his eyes, even though Kurt knew he had slept through the last two nights.

And there he was, crying again. Immediately, Kurt was out of his chair and at Blaine's, pulling the older boy out of his chair and onto his lap on the floor, rocking him gently.

"I'm sorry I've been such an idiot." Blaine choked out from his tears, but Kurt just put his chin on Blaine's shoulder and kept rocking.

"Shh. I have you." Kurt cooed, trying his hardest to keep himself from crying, too.

"You didn't sign up for a weak boyfriend. I can't be a weak boyfriend. I'm supposed to be a strong boyfriend." Blaine said, and Kurt actually rolled his eyes as he kissed the soft skin next to Blaine's ear.

"There's this little part about loving you that means I don't care if you're strong or not, I'm going to love you anyway." Kurt said, pushing Blaine back so that he'd look him in the face.

"But…"

"I _love_ you, Blaine. _You_." He said, putting his forehead on Blaine's. Blaine sniffled a little bit.

"But what if I say something stupid that I don't mean and I lose you? Like this? This all started over something so _stupid._" Blaine murmured, looking down. Kurt had to fight tears with everything he had, drawing Blaine back closer to him and holding him as tight as he physically could.

"You're not going to, because I'm not going to let you, because I love you and I'm not going to take anything you say personally right now, because I know what's going on and I know how you really feel about me." Kurt said firmly, putting all he could into squeezing Blaine. It was an unexpected realization, figuring out that he knew how Blaine felt about him. Blaine loved him. As low as Kurt's self esteem could go on occasion, he _knew_ that Blaine loved him.

Amazing how big of a boost that was, when he thought about it.

"I just don't know what I'd do without you." Blaine murmured, returning Kurt's attention to him.

"You don't have to, because that's not happening." Kurt said, feeling Blaine begin to relax.

With heavy footsteps preceding him, Finn walked into the kitchen and turned, seeing the two of them on the floor. At the angry look on Kurt's face he quickly turned back around and walked away.

"I love you so much, Kurt." Blaine whispered, apparently paying no heed.

"I know. And I love you, too, Blaine. So, so much." He said, kissing Blaine's wet cheekbone. "Don't forget that."

"I know. I know you love me." Blaine said, and Kurt continued to place little kisses around Blaine's face as he cried in Kurt's arms for the second morning in a row.

* * *

><p>"So what do you think the Berrys want?" Kurt asked, glancing over at his boyfriend. Blaine gave a little shrug.<p>

"Give me advice or something, I suppose." He said, his fingers scratching at his jeans, his eyes watching a few drops of rain race to the bottom of the window.

"Well, whatever it is, how about you call me once you're done here and we go get coffee? I'm just going to lunch with Mercedes." Kurt said. Blaine glanced back over to him.

"Coffee?" He asked, watching Kurt carefully.

"Well, yeah. You know, what we normally do." Kurt said, glancing over at him again. _Normal._ Blaine's chest immediately felt a little less tight. Yes, he would go get coffee with Kurt, and they could be back in their comfort zone. Not in Kurt's house, not surrounded by people who knew them, not even out of the ordinary to any of the other people in the coffee shop.

"That sounds wonderful, Kurt." Blaine said, and Kurt smiled at the more relaxed tone in his voice. He reached over, and Blaine took his hand firmly.

Kurt dropped Blaine off at the Berrys' with a quick peck on the lips. Blaine waved for a second before shuffling up to the door, not sure what to expect. Blaine had never spoken to the Berrys alone, and didn't know if Rachel would even be here or not. He wasn't completely sure if he'd feel better if she were in attendance or not. scampering footsteps, Rachel opened the door wide and instantly pulled him into a hug.

"Hi, Rachel." He said, once again feeling a relaxation of tension he wasn't even aware of holding. Maybe he did feel better that she was here… Rachel was someone familiar whereas her fathers were still new to him.

"Hi, Blaine!" She said, releasing him and giving him her most excited smile. Bemused, Blaine followed her into her house where he was ambushed almost immediately by Leroy.

"Blaine! Good to see you." He said, patting Blaine on the back. "Hiram's in the kitchen preparing lunch, we'll be ready in a few.

"Hi, Blaine." Hiram said, clearly the quietest of the bunch, peeking out of the kitchen.

"Hi, Leroy. Hi, Hiram." Blaine said, shuffling his feet a little.

"We heard what happened Blaine. We'll talk about it after lunch, but we're sorry about what happened." Hiram said, and Blaine nodded. Rachel gave Blaine a little squeeze around the wrist.

"Rachel, has Blaine seen your room?" Leroy asked, and the daughter, shook her head. "Go on and show him. When you come back we'll have lunch ready." He said, and Rachel dragged Blaine by the wrist through a hallway and to her room.

"So, here we are!" She said, and Blaine was a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of _Rachel_ the room possessed.

"It's very… you." Blaine said, looking at a _Wicked_ poster on one wall.

"Yeah, being the difficultly-attained only child, I have a lot of attention directed my way." She said. Blaine nodded; it really made a lot of sense when it came to Rachel.

"You keep a treadmill in your bedroom?" Blaine asked, eyeing the device as he started to walk around her room. Rachel nodded.

"We don't really have a lot of extra rooms. Even with three of us, the house is a little small since my dads do so much lobbying and spend a lot of their money on contributions." Rachel said.

"Your dads are really cool, Rachel." Blaine said, giving the brunette girl a small smile. Her entire face lit up with the smile she returned.

"It's nice to hear that. I think that, obviously. It's just, most people don't." She said quietly. Blaine walked back over and took her hand in a small squeeze.

"Well, that's a shame." He said, and Rachel led him back into the main living space of the home, biting her lip as she smiled in a way that told Blaine that Rachel was definitely up to something.

"So, Blaine." Hiram said, setting a bowl of pasta down in the middle of the table as the two walked into the kitchen, "tell us about this Dalton place."

"Well," Blaine began, sitting down in the chair next to the one Rachel was taking, "I guess I'm not going to be attending anymore, but it's a great school. Really great academics. A little stifling, socially, but a great school."

"What do you mean, 'stifling'?" Leroy asked, coming up and taking a seat to Blaine's left at the small round table. Hiram took the seat across from Blaine as he shrugged. Everyone around the table began to scoop pasta onto their plates and begin to eat.

"Dalton was really a conformist kind of place. Everyone fit in and had a place, but that's because we all felt a little kept down that there was really a sort of envy when people had something about them that made them different." Blaine said, thinking about David's constant whining about how _boring_ he felt. _"The only way I could be more boring is if I were white."_

Leroy nodded. "Uniforms?"

"Yeah. Strict dress code. Kurt had a habit of changing his hair every day, he was going so crazy." Blaine said with a little smile, remembering sitting in Kurt's room doing his homework and watching the younger boy experiment with his hair in the weeks between when they started dating and Kurt transferring back to McKinley.

"I can't imagine Kurt dealing with a dress code." Leroy said with a chuckle. Hiram sighed.

"That's one of the reasons I knew it was bad when he transferred out of here. There's no way that kid would voluntarily trade away his wardrobe." Hiram said, sighing. He looked at Blaine, who felt a little terrible knowing exactly what had driven Kurt to Dalton. "How did he do there?"

"He did well. Kept up with grades. We had to help him out a little at the start, but he pushed us all back quickly to do it himself." He said, and both men nodded at the reference to Kurt's fierce self-reliance. "He's a little angry that his Bs from Dalton are going to keep him down in the class ranking at McKinley."

"That's right, he would have been in the top five." Rachel said, grimacing. "I bet Artie and Mike feel pretty relieved. I know I do, sort of." Blaine nodded.

"Yeah. And, socially, well, he had the Warblers. He had trouble adapting at first, but he got the hang of it and was unanimously given part of a duet for Sectionals."

"From what Kurt tells me, which is according to what your friend Trent told him, it was because they were all sick of you two beating around the bush." Rachel teased, and Blaine blushed and shrugged.

"So the choir embraced the relationship between the two of you?" Leroy asked curiously. Blaine nodded furiously.

"Most accepting group of guys I've met in my life. There was another gay couple that graduated my sophomore year, so it's not anything they're not used to."

"That's good." Hiram said with a little smile.

Blaine nodded. "And, I mean, no one really bothers us in the New Directions, either, so that's nice." Blaine said. Hiram bit his lip.

"Yes, the kids in the choir have grown up nicely, but you need to know that it's not that way with the rest of McKinley." He said, his voice a little nervous. Blaine swallowed even though he didn't have any food in his mouth and nodded.

"I… I get what McKinley's like. I guess I really don't know all of it, but I was at prom with Kurt. And I know what my old school was like."

"What school did you go to before Dalton, Blaine?" Leroy asked, his voice softer than it was before.

"Marion High. I left because I couldn't handle it. Unlike Kurt, I didn't go back." He said, looking down at his plate.

"But, so, you're okay with going to McKinley? That's what Burt told us." Hiram said. Blaine nodded.

"I have friends here." Blaine said, glancing over at Rachel. "I didn't really have any friends in Marion. Not any who stuck by me once everyone figured out I was gay, at least."

Hiram and Leroy both nodded.

"Well, Blaine, if you're done…" Leroy began, gesturing to Blaine's now-empty plate, "Hiram and I would like to talk to you in the living room."

"I'll clean up." Rachel said, quickly.

"Okay…" Blaine said a little hesitantly, and followed the adults into the living room.

* * *

><p>"So why is it suddenly 'biggest importance of importance' that we have lunch today?" Mercedes said, sticking a fork in her salad. Kurt could tell that she was sick of the little niceties of small talk.<p>

"Well…" He began, fiddling a fork around his linguini, trying to find a way to ease into this.

"Out with it." She said, sounding like she knew what was coming.

"What's going on, Mercedes? I realize you're having lunch with Sam a lot, but what's with the weave? And the diet? Don't look at me like that, I know you wouldn't eat that salad if you weren't on a diet. And you're barely even eating it!" He said. Mercedes put the fork down, looking at Kurt.

"Can't I try to be pretty if I want?" She asked, fixing Kurt with a glare that told him that trouble was coming.

"Who said you weren't pretty before?" Kurt shot back, truly questioning. "Because I swear to God, if Sam said anything…"

"Shh!" Mercedes warned, her eyes dangerous. "One, he didn't have to…"

"So he's been implying it?" Kurt said, nearly leaping out of his seat in anger.

"NO! I think I can figure it out for myself, thanks."

"Figure what out?" Kurt said, his mind still reeling with all the ways he wanted to slap Sam across the face.

"That I'm not exactly Quinn or Santana, okay? I don't know why he's dating me, but " She said, settling back grumpily into her seat. Kurt's mind stopped.

"Why on earth would you want to be Quinn or Santana?" He asked. Mercedes looked up.

"Because they're prettier than I am. They have pretty long hair that swishes around when they dance and they're skinny so Sam could have picked them up. And Sam wasn't afraid of everyone knowing he was dating them."

"So he's the reason we're being quiet on this?" Kurt asked, and Mercedes nodded. "What reason did he give you?"

"He didn't want people to think he's a bad boyfriend because he couldn't pay to take me out places… we split." She said. Kurt frowned.

"Mercedes… that's a real reason." He said. The girl in front of him looked up, her eyes a little guilty.

"You think it is?" She said, and Kurt nodded.

"Have you talked to him about this?" Kurt asked, and Mercedes shook her head. "You should have, before jumping off and trying to change yourself. Where's the Mercedes who would dump a boy if he didn't like her as-is before thinking of changing herself? I miss her." Kurt said, reaching over the table and taking her hands.

"So you don't think it's because I'm not pretty enough?"

"Mercedes, I know it can't be that in a million years. Besides, this weave? Totally off balance with your body type. Your old hair was much more proportionate."

* * *

><p>"Blaine, as you can tell, Leroy and I have been very concerned with the plight of gay youth since, well, we were gay youth ourselves." Hiram said, fiddling with his husband's fingers. Leroy took Hiram's hand firmly in his, looking solemn as well. The two men were on the sofa, and Blaine was sitting across the coffee table from them on a wooden chair that had obviously been put there for this purpose.<p>

"We made a promise to ourselves a long time ago that if we ever saw a kid we knew struggling, we'd do all we could to help." Leroy said. Blaine looked up and met his eyes, and Leroy sighed. "We agreed that meant anything, even offering up our home."

Blaine's mouth went dry. Surely, they were about to tell him that he didn't qualify, but they would help.

"We know you've only met us a few times." Hiram said, swallowing. "But we've asked about you. We know you're dating Kurt, who has the most impeccable taste in everything I've ever seen." Blaine smiled, he couldn't help but agree. He was lucky to be Kurt's number-one accessory.

"Rachel thinks you're phenomenal. She raved about you for over an hour, she had so many nice things to say about you. She says you're really talented, too." Leroy said. Blaine blushed.

"And Burt Hummel said you're a good kid. For Burt to say that about someone dating his son, that means a lot." Hiram said. Blaine nodded, his heart aching. He never expected Burt to attest to his personality, it really meant more than he could imagine.

"So, we talked. And we talked with Rachel, too. And we talked to Burt. But we want you to do some talking of your own, and not answer us today, or even tomorrow. Answer us when you've done all the thinking you can do. But, Blaine, we would like to offer you a place in our home." Leroy finished.

Blaine's eyes shot open wide, and he started breathing heavily.

"We won't mind if you decline." Hiram started in, holding up a hand. "We would completely understand if this were to awkward for you. But we do want to extend the offer."

"Th…thank you." Blaine stuttered, glancing between the two of them, waiting to wake up and for it all to have been a dream. The men smiled.

"If you come live with us, we want you to know that we don't want you to try to compensate us." Leroy said. Hiram nodded.

"If anything, we'll try to force your father to pay. You're still his responsibility, whether he wants you to be or not." Hiram said.

"Take some time to think about it. We're going to go, we're going to be late for a meeting. Rachel can show you out after you two talk." Leroy said, smiling.

"Come back to us at the end of the week, Blaine." Hiram said, and Blaine nodded, turning and watching as the two men left the room.

Barely half a minute later, Rachel appeared at the doorway, cocking her head against the doorframe and smiling.

"So what do you think?" Rachel asked, biting her lip. Blaine put a hand in his hair, still breathing hard.

"Your parents are the most amazing people." He said, still barely believing this was happening.

"I know." Rachel said with a smile, walking into the room and perching on the coffee table in front of Blaine. "You'd be stuck rooming with me, though. We don't have an extra bedroom, or a way to turn the stageroom downstairs into one." She said, looking down.

"Rachel, I'm gay. If anyone can deal with rooming with you, it's me." He said, and Rachel's face split open with a smile.

"So you think you're going to do it?" She asked, and Blaine nodded. Squealing, Rachel threw her arms around Blaine.

"We're _totally_ getting bunkbeds!"

* * *

><p>"So, we're good?" Kurt asked, and Mercedes smiled and nodded.<p>

"And you're not going to kill Sam?" She asked, and Kurt shrugged.

"If this is your self-made meltdown, I'll live with it. But if I hear a single word that sounds like he's messing with your self-esteem, he will face the wrath of one very angry Kurt Hummel." Kurt said, twirling around to talk to her as they walked through the parking lot toward their cars.

"Easy, now. I prefer my boyfriends alive." Mercedes joked.

"And I prefer your boyfriends not hurting my beautiful Mercedes!" Kurt said, pulling her over and kissing her on the cheek. Mercedes laughed.

"I think your phone is going off." She said at the sound of the ringer. Kurt pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered it quickly when he saw that it was from Blaine. Pointing at the phone and mouthing his boyfriend's name to Mercedes, he squeezed her hand goodbye and started walking to his car.

"Hey! How'd it go?" He said, climbing into his driver's seat and waving at Mercedes as she drove out of the parking lot.

"Really well. I'll tell you when you get here." Blaine said, and Kurt smiled.

"Great! I'll be right there. See you in a second."

"Love you, Kurt."

"Love you, too." Kurt said with a smile, hanging up the phone and starting to drive.

When Kurt pulled up to the Berry home, he saw Blaine and Rachel standing on the front porch, Blaine's arm around Rachel's shoulders. Kurt honked the horn and leaned out of the window, overjoyed at the big smile on his boyfriend's face.

"Boyfriend pickup!" He called, and he saw Blaine pull Rachel into a hug and kiss her on the temple before letting her go and running for the car. He got in and leaned over, pressing his lips to Kurt's, still smiling.

"Hi." Blaine said. Kurt wanted to burst, and dance, and sing with joy at how happy Blaine was.

"You're in a good mood. Kurt said. He couldn't even manage to make it anything other than an observation, Blaine was so happy.

"Let's get coffee." Blaine said, taking Kurt's hand and squeezing it before locking their fingers together. Kurt couldn't help but think that everything was going to get better.

* * *

><p>"They're offering me to live with them." Blaine said, loving the feel of being back at his familiar seat in the coffee shop, receiving their coffee from the familiar barista and sipping on the familiar drink.<p>

Kurt stared at him in shock, glad he hadn't taken a drink of his mocha yet or he might be replaying their first I-Love-Yous.

"You should know that I'd be rooming with Rachel. She's already raving about bunkbeds. I know stuff happened during the school year, but I know you know that was literally nothing."

"Oh, I know." Kurt said, a grin spreading across his face.

"I need to know you'd be okay with that." Blaine said, and Kurt actually laughed.

"Blaine, you two could sleep in the same bed and I'd know everything was okay." Kurt said, and Blaine grinned. "I want you to do this. If you want to."

"You do?" Blaine asked, and Kurt nodded, squeezing his hand.

An hour later they were back at Kurt's house, and after telling Annie (to great excitement) about Blaine's probable new residence, they had retired to the basement where Kurt was viciously going through his wardrobe for something to wear that night.

"Your dad is meeting me tonight, Blaine. Not by choice, not on his terms, and not some straightened-up version of me." Kurt said, comparing two pairs of skinny jeans and tossing the looser of the two back into his drawer with a haphazard nature he never employed except at his most excited. He hung the pair he had selected on a hanger, and had the Alexander McQueen scarf Blaine had given him at the top of the bar as he set about holding up short sleeve shirts up to the pieces to pick a color.

"God, I love you." Blaine said, wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist from behind, pressing kisses his boyfriend's shoulder. Kurt didn't play indignant like he usually did, but only melted into his boyfriend's touch.

"Are you changing now?" Blaine asked, and Kurt didn't bother to bring to attention that he hadn't picked a shirt yet.

"Yeah." He said, and felt Blaine's lips turn to a grin against his skin.

"Let me help you out of those clothes you're wearing, then." Blaine said, running a hand under Kurt's shirt, making him shiver before pulling the shirt off of his boyfriend and spinning him around in his arms, crashing his lips to Kurt's and starting to unbutton Kurt's pants. Kurt groaned, leaning in to Blaine's touch.

He suddenly had the wild wish for Blaine to push him up against the closet door and just _fuck_ him. Kurt was startled by the very thought, since he still didn't get what the big deal about anal stimulation was, but holy hell anything involving Blaine was exactly what he wanted right now.

It also unsettled Kurt that he was thinking this way. Just this morning, he and Blaine had a minor argument- almost a _fight_ over this. But as Blaine opened his eyes and _giggled_ as he had trouble pulling Kurt's jeans down, Kurt couldn't find it in him to stop it. Those lovestruck eyes were all for him… no abandonment or worry or any other emotion in sight. Smiling, he pressed his lips back to Blaine's as the older boy pushed his pants off of him, followed by his underwear.

"Who said I'm not planning on wearing those?" Kurt asked, laughing. Blaine laughed, too, kissing Kurt's jaw.

"I do. Every time you wear them I can't help but hope you're not wearing anything under them. Blaine said, nipping Kurt's earlobe. Kurt gasped and bucked back into Blaine.

"Hope?" Kurt asked, and Blaine giggled, though it was much breathier.

"Imagine." He said, kissing down Kurt's neck. And, well, hell if Kurt wasn't completely turned on now. He moaned, pulling at Blaine's shirt in no particular direction until the older boy quickly threw it off of himself and quickly undid his pants and stripped himself until both he and Kurt were naked.

There was no way Blaine was ever getting used to having Kurt all to himself in every way he possibly could. He stepped back into Kurt's arms, pressing his lips hard against Kurt's, hoping Kurt wouldn't back away and tell him to stop.

Instead of stopping, Kurt ground himself hard into Blaine. Blaine moaned, feeling a bit of burn from skin-against-skin, but _loving_ the feel of Kurt against him. He dug his fingers into Kurt's shoulders and ground back into him as Kurt ground into him and oh-oh-there was Kurt moaning at the same time he did, and this was so, _so _right.

"Ugh, Blaine…." Kurt moaned, his fingers digging into Blaine's hip as Blaine ground himself into the crook of Kurt's hip as Kurt ground into the soft skin around Blaine's navel, loving the way Blaine's abs worked against him under that thin layer of softness.

Blaine's breathing became heavier and heavier, and sooner than usual he was coming, and after being pent up for so long he came profusely across Kurt, gasping and falling against him. Well aware of his boyfriend's predicament, he scraped up some of what he just spilled on Kurt into his hand and wrapped it around Kurt, pulling. Gasping at exactly _what_ was being used to lubricate him, Kurt came quickly as well.

The two stood against each other for a few long, panting seconds, grinning at each other and moaning between sloppy little kisses.

"We need to shower." Kurt said, and Blaine nodded. Kurt took Blaine's hand and led him into the bathroom, turning on the water before walking in to test the temperature.

Blaine followed Kurt into the shower, gulping as he watched beads of water fall off of his boyfriend's body. Kurt grinned, turning around and kissing Blaine.

"Don't get any ideas, we're just showering." Kurt whispered, and Blaine nodded, grinning before picking up a bottle of shampoo and squirting some on his hand. Acting as though he were about to put it in his own hair, he quickly attacked Kurt's hair with it, making the younger boy laugh with delight as Blaine ran his hands through Kurt's hair vigorously. Kurt giggled and picked up his body wash, starting to slather Blaine's chest with slippery soap that ran with the water.

"Your shampoo is too fancy, it barely even bubbles." Blaine pouted, twisting Kurt's bangs up into a curly-q on top of his head. Kurt giggled, pushing Blaine's hand away and pouring a giant glob of shampoo on his hand before attacking Blaine's water-saturated curls with it, loving how thick his hair was and how it stayed however he molded it. Grinning, he set about pulling it into a shape like a crown.

"Just wait until you see what it does for your hair." Kurt said, kissing Blaine on the nose before pressing his lips against Blaine's. If it weren't for Blaine's soap-slippery body in front of him and the drops of water hitting his back from the shower, Kurt would have completely forgotten they were both naked. It was their normal, fun kissing; nothing heavy or even erotic about it. He pulled back and opened his eyes, grinning at Blaine. Here he was, Kurt's boyfriend- all of him. Kurt tilted Blaine's head back into the water to rinse him, watching the suds run down from his hair over his body. Blaine's eyes were closed, looking peaceful as Kurt blocked any of the suds from sliding into his face. After the shampoo was all gone, Kurt picked the shower gel back up and began to wash Blaine's abdomen, cleaning him off from where they had spilled.

Blaine opened his eyes and smiled, pulling Kurt under the water to rinse his hair, rubbing away any soap that dared to come over his boyfriend's lovely eyes, enjoying the way Kurt was rubbing the soap in little circles on his abs, running his fingers over places usually hidden by clothes: the curve of his him, the top of his thigh, his shoulder. He understood Kurt's fascination; his eyes were everywhere on Kurt except where they usually fell when they were naked. He took the soap and began to wash Kurt as well, washing in flat strokes across his chest as he leaned in and kissed Kurt's shoulder.

Eventually Kurt turned Blaine around, starting to run gel across Blaine's back when he noticed an array of light, sickle-shaped scabs just below Blaine's neck.

"What happened here?" He asked sharply, frowning as he ran a finger across them, observing the faded bruises surrounding them.

"You." Blaine snickered, smiling at the memory and trying not to think of just how much he had enjoyed getting them.

"What? When did I… oh." Kurt said, blushing furiously. "Oh my gosh, Blaine, I'm sorry! Don't let me do that again! Oh my gosh…."

"Kurt?" Blaine asked, still smiling.

"Yeah?" He answered a little weakly.

"I really don't mind." He said, turning over his shoulder, seeing Kurt blush even more, his wet hair flopping all over his face. Gently Kurt pressed his lips against the scabs, pressing a kiss for each of the ten fingernail marks. Blaine turned back forward as Kurt went back to washing his back, extending his line of kisses up the back of Blaine's neck. He stepped closer to Blaine and suddenly Blaine could feel Kurt against the side of his butt cheek. He closed his eyes hard, trying not to get hard, and from the way Kurt jumped back he knew Kurt had been thinking similarly. Kurt rinsed his back off quickly, and Blaine turned around to see Kurt showing the fullest blush he had ever seen the younger boy show, and that was really saying something.

Gently, if a little hurriedly, Kurt returned the favor and washed Kurt's back as the younger boy washed off a part of his anatomy he really couldn't let Blaine touch right now, not as excited as he already was and trying not to show it. Blaine took great care not to bump against Kurt, or to pay too much attention to the unbelievable way Kurt's ass curved back into his body, the perfect white skin sure to be incredibly soft.

Climbing out of the shower, the two quickly toweled themselves off before going back into the bedroom and dressing. Only when they were both in jeans and shirts- Blaine about died when he saw that Kurt really wasn't going to wear underwear under those jeans- did they allow themselves to kiss again, hot and anxious and both trying to conceal moans.

* * *

><p>A half hour later when Annie dared to rap on the door, they were both sitting on opposite sides of the room doing their own thing. Kurt was perfecting his boldest hairstyle while Blaine sat on his computer, looking through pictures someone had just posted of the end of the Dalton school year.<p>

Annie's eyes glanced from one to the other, having heard that exceptionally long shower, and observing the way that the two had more space between them than she had ever seen. She also noticed that they both looked even happier than after Blaine told her that he was possibly going to live with the Berrys.

"So are you ready for dinner with your father, Blaine?" Annie asked, wondering if Blaine had lost grip with reality. Kurt shot her an angry look, but to their mutual surprise Blaine just shrugged.

"There's nothing he can really say to me that he hasn't already." Blaine said, closing the pictures and looking up at her.

"I guess…" She said nervously, wondering if Blaine was quite alright. Glancing over at Kurt, she could see a similar concern there.

"As far as I see it, I have nothing right now. I might come out of this knowing whether or not I have any money from my grandparents. I also might come out of this with a little vindication, depending on what happens. Regardless, I get to show off my super hot boyfriend tonight." He said, glancing up and meeting Kurt's eyes in the mirror.

"Okay…" Annie said, glancing from one to the other a little incredulously. "Well, Uncle Burt just got home and told me to tell you guys to be ready in half an hour." She said, and they both nodded as she retreated.

"She's really suspicious of us, isn't she?" Blaine asked, his eyes still on the staircase. Kurt grinned.

"Blaine, we were in the shower for over half an hour. You can hear the water upstairs." He said, turning around looking directly at Blaine.

"Oh." He said, grinning as well.

* * *

><p>"You're getting nervous, aren't you?" Kurt asked, turning to Blaine as they climbed out of Burt's truck at the restaurant Brian Anderson had selected for them to meet at for dinner. Blaine nodded, swallowing drily and reaching for Kurt's hand. Kurt brought Blaine's hand up to his mouth, kissing between the first and second knuckles.<p>

"Like you said earlier, there's nowhere else to go but up." He said, and Blaine nodded as they walked around to the end of the parking space where Burt was standing.

"Holding up alright?" Burt asked, patting Blaine's back. Blaine nodded. Burt smiled at his son, who was holding Blaine's hand, dressed crazier than he had ever seen, but Burt liked this defiant version of his son much better than the one who had dressed like anyone else to meet this Brian Anderson the last time.

"That's his car, so they're already inside." Blaine said, and flanked by the Hummel men, he walked into the restaurant. The host led them back to the very back of the restaurant, to a more secluded table setting. It was a circular table, and the Andersons sat side by side on the far side, facing them as they entered. Blaine grinned as he saw his parents' eyes run back and forth between the immaculately dressed Kurt to his left and the gruff Burt to his right. They looked especially appalled every time their eyes fell on the fact that the two boys were holding hands.

"So, you're Brian Anderson. Burt Hummel." Burt said, reaching out his hand and shaking Mr. Anderson's hand. "Nice to meet my son's boyfriend's father after all this time." He said, his voice purposely booming. The Andersons winced. "And Mrs. Anderson. Sorry, I haven't heard your first name."

"Isabel." Mrs. Anderson said with a blank smile, taking a drink of her water. Blaine navigated himself to take a seat next to his mother so that Kurt could sit between him and his father. He wasn't going to forget how Brian had treated Kurt.

"Nice to meet you as well, Isabel. I know you've both met my son, Kurt." He said, gesturing with one hand to Kurt, who didn't even bother to smile. The Andersons didn't either as they nodded.

The waiter came and took their orders, her eyes glancing from one person to the next as she observed the tension coming from the table.

"Enough niceties." Brian said after she left. "Why are we here? We kicked the boy out, what more do you want from us?" He asked. Kurt felt Blaine shift uncomfortably and squeezed his hand under the table. Blaine laced their hands together, making his grip firmer than it was before.

"We're here," Burt said with that smile Kurt knew meant trouble, "because we need to settle Blaine's financial situation."

"We're not paying you anything." Brian said. Kurt stared at the way Mrs. Anderson looked completely uninterested.

"I don't expect you to, because unfortunately Blaine can't stay with us. I'm not going to pretend you care about my family situation, Brian, but I just remarried and as well as my wife and her son, we also have my deceased wife's niece staying with us this summer. Blaine has an offer to live with another family in Lima, but if that doesn't work up we'll still find him another family in Lima to live with. You will be reimbursing the family Blaine will live with at least until he graduates, and you will disclose any money Blaine has to his name." Burt said, leaning forward in his chair.

"And what makes you think you can tell me what I will and will not do?" Brian asked harshly. Both boys looked over to Burt to see that he was smiling.

"I hear you're a pretty hot dog lawyer, Brian?" He asked, and the other man nodded.

"I'm an attorney, yes." Mr. Anderson said.

"Well, I can't see the story getting out that you kicked your seventeen-year-old son out of your house on account of his being gay doing your business any favors." Burt said. Kurt's mouth almost fell open in shock of how _awesome_ his dad was being right now.

"Are you blackmailing me, Hummel?" Brian asked, and Kurt could see that Mrs. Anderson had snapped out of her inattentive attitude and into a slightly worried one.

"No. Because, trust me, if I'm tempted to tell them the story anyway. But if you at least provide for Blaine, I won't take the story anywhere. If someone else does…" he said, shrugging.

"Fine. We'll pay these people. What are their names?" Brian asked, his face angry. Burt smiled again."Don

"Hiram and Leroy Berry. Of course, Blaine still has to accept the offer."

"I'm going to." Blaine said quickly. He saw Burt smiling before he saw the aghast looks on his parents' faces.

"Hiram.. and… Leroy?" Isabel asked, looking a bit pale. Burt nodded.

"Wonderful men. They actually came to me about taking Blaine in after hearing about what happened from their daughter Rachel."

Blaine was almost sure his mother was going to faint, and he could practically see the blood boiling in his father's veins.

"I'm not paying any fucking faggots." He snarled, and Burt stood up immediately, looming over the man next to him.

"Don't you _dare_ say that word in front of my son." He said harshly, his hands clutched in fists. Kurt's hands immediately shot to his father's arm, trying to pull him back down. "Or yours, either."

"Dad…" Kurt said, pulling at his dad's sleeve worriedly. "Dad, your blood pressure…"

"Please, Mr. Hummel." Blaine said quietly, and Burt looked over and sighed before sitting back down, glaring at Mr. Anderson, who didn't speak.

"You'll reimburse the Berrys for what they're doing for your son. Like I said, it's incredibly good of them, what they're doing." Burt said, his fists still clenched as Kurt kept a hand on his arm.

"Fine. All of a kind, I suppose." Brian sneered. Kurt felt like picking up where his father had left of, but decided against it.

"And what about any other money he has?" Burt asked. It was Mrs. Anderson who spoke.

"His grandparents have a trust fund set up for him in New York. I'm not sure how much money there is in it, but it's there." She said.

"It's up to them if they take it away." Brian said, the contempt in his voice belying his personal opinion on the matter. Just then, the waiter arrived with their food.

"Do they know what's going on?" Burt asked as he began to eat. Brian shook his head.

"I haven't told them. I'm sure the topic of the boy leaving will come up, but I'm not going to explain why." He said.

"He has a name, you know. From how this sort of thing usually works, I'm pretty sure you gave it to him." Kurt said fiercely. He didn't miss his father's little smile at his impertinence. Burt wasn't very happy with how Mr. Anderson was referring to his son, either.

The Andersons stared at him blankly, as though unsure of what to think. Kurt found Blaine's hand gripping his so hard it almost hurt.

"It will be up to _Blaine_ to explain why he is no longer welcome in my house." Mr. Anderson said, and Blaine flinched at the way his father spat out his name in such a mocking way.

"Well, before you go saying he's not welcome, what about his belongings there?" Burt asked, leaning forward again. Brian studied him and sighed.

"He can come and take whatever of his he wants. We don't have use for it." He said. Blaine's eyes grew wide in shock.

"What about his car?" Burt asked, not relenting. "I've seen that car quite a bit, it's a nice car."

"From what I hear, you'd know." Brian said, and Blaine's hand started shaking in Kurt's from fury as he recognized the mocking tone in his father's voice about Burt's profession.

"I do know. I also noticed that you drive a Mercedes. Another nice car." He said pointedly. "So I can't see you needing this one, if it's paid off, unless you need money from it." He said, and Kurt's mouth fell open a little bit as he heard the challenge in his father's voice.

"It's paid off. He can have it. We have plenty of money without it." Mr. Anderson answered viciously. Burt nodded.

"Then it's settled. The boys will stop by to collect his things after dinner. I'll wait outside to make sure everything goes according to plan.

* * *

><p>"BLAINE!" Jessie screamed, running down the stairs and into her brother's arms within seconds after him calling her name. She stayed there for almost a minute before glancing over and seeing Kurt, quickly fleeing Blaine's arms for his boyfriend's. Kurt held her tight, rocking her back and forth.<p>

"How are you, Sweetheart?" Kurt asked, drawing back to look at her. Jessie grinned. There was another tooth missing in that smile.

"I'm fine. How are you two? Blaine told me he's been staying with you. So you've been having, like, a big sleepover?" She asked, and Kurt laughed, taking her hand as they started up the stairs. Blaine took her other.

"We're okay, Jess." Blaine said, smiling at his little sister.

"Definitely the best sleepover ever." Kurt said, winking at Jessie. Maybe she'd figure that one out in a few years.

"It's ending soon, though. I'm going to go live with my friend Rachel. You'd like her. You kind of look alike, actually." Blaine said as they reached the top of the stairs. Jessie stopped, and Blaine had to turn around to see her.

"So you're not coming back?" She asked, and Blaine groaned and picked her up, carrying into his room as Kurt followed behind. She wasn't as easy to carry as she had been when she was younger, but he managed to get her on his bed and in her lap. Kurt perched himself down next to the siblings.

"No. We met with Mom and Dad today and worked out that I could come home and get what I wanted to take tonight. Unfortunately, you don't count."

"I wish I did." Jessie said, sort of sighing.

"Is everything alright here?" Blaine asked, and Jessie nodded.

"They leave me alone, really. I'm just here with Therese most of the time." She said, and Blaine nodded.

"Well, if something happens, let me know and I'll be here in no time. They're letting me have the car, so I can." He said. Jessie smiled.

"Okay."

"And we'll try to work it out so we can see you." Kurt said, smiling at Jessie. "Like Blaine said, I bet you'll get along famously with Rachel. There's my cousin Annie, too. I bet you'd like to have some older girls around instead of just we boys." Jessie shook her head at his words.

"I like having you boys around. Boys are more fun than girls most of the time, anyway. All the girls want to do is paint their finger nails and try to kiss boys."

"Sounds like Kurt." Blaine said in a stage whisper, earning him a punch in the arm from Blaine and a giggle from Jessie.

"That's why you find cool girls like Rachel and Annie." Kurt said with a grin. Jessie nodded.

"So are we good?" Blaine asked, and Jessie nodded.

"Yeah. I'll help you get your stuff." She said a little sadly before setting about the room. Blaine went up to attic and found some boxes, and they loaded a few up full of stuff. Blaine didn't feel like taking unnecessary things just to have stuff, and the fact that he had moved twice a year for the past three years meant that he only had so many belongings anyway. Even some of what he did have weren't needed anymore, such as the bedding and laundry baskets from his dorm room. Most of the things he was taking were clothes and books.

"So I guess that's it." Blaine said, studying the stack of boxes. He wondered if he should be feeling more emotion about leaving this house, but in his mind he had already left. This was just the end of the uncertainty about it. In a way, it was almost comforting.

The two took the boxes out and loaded them in Burt's truck, Jessie following along and pretending to help. When they were all loaded, Jessie clung to Blaine's waist and didn't let go.

"Jess, you know I've gotta go." Blaine said, his voice wavering.

"I wanna go, too." Jessie said, starting to cry. It was possibly the most childish thing Kurt had ever heard Jessie say, but he could feel his heart breaking.

"Jess…" Blaine said, crouching down and taking her in his arms again, tears brimming up in his eyes as he hugged his little sister. "You can still get ahold of me any time, Jessie. You know that." He tried to reason, but the tears were still coming. "I'm always going to be there for you. Just have courage, remember?" He said. Jessie shook her head.

"I don't want courage, I want my big brother." She said, and Kurt started crying. He glared at Mr. Anderson, who was standing nonchalantly by the garage, being forced into conversation by Burt. Mrs. Anderson had long-ago gone inside.

"You've still got me, Jessie. You know you do." Blaine said. Kurt stepped over, putting a hand on each of their backs as he crouched down as well. Jessie looked over and released herself from her brother's arms and into Kurt's.

"Take care of my brother." Jessie whispered in his ear, and Kurt nodded.

"Of course I will. And Rachel will, too. Blaine has a lot of friends in Lima." Kurt said, and Jessie nodded.

"I know he loves you a lot." Jessie said, and Kurt's tears fell even harder as he held the little girl.

"I love him a lot, too." He whispered.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" Kurt heard Mr. Anderson yell, and Jessie shook in his arms. He glanced up to see his dad yelling at Mr. Anderson. Blaine, now standing, was literally shaking with anger. He caught Kurt's eye and smirked before bending over and pressing his lips to Kurt's gently, flipping his father off. Jessie giggled as Mr. Anderson stormed into the house.

"I love you, Blaine." She said, turning back and hugging Blaine again. He kissed her on the forehead.

"I love you too, Jessie."

"Love you, sweetheart." Kurt said, and she turned around and kissed him on the cheek.

"Love you too, Kurt." She said as he stood up. She turned back to Blaine and gave him a kiss on the cheek, too.

"I'll send you pictures when I move in with Rachel, okay? And I'll call you tomorrow night."

"Okay." She said, and with a big deep breath she walked back into the house. As the door shut, Blaine sunk onto Kurt's shoulder. Kurt wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and kissed his forehead.

"Come on, kids." Burt said, walking up and patting them both on the back. "Kurt, you go ahead and ride back in Blaine's car." He said, and Kurt nodded before walking over to Blaine's car. As soon as they were driving, Blaine's hand was in his.

* * *

><p>Burt beat them home since Blaine decided to take the drive slowly. They didn't speak at all on the ride back to Lima, but instead just held hands softly and stole little glances at each other that turned to smiles long before the ride was over. Even with his heart broken over leaving Jessie behind, he couldn't help but feel optimistic. It was only up from here, really. Jessie would be okay without him, and she even had him at a distance. He had a place to go, and his father would even be reimbursing the Berrys. And, as he glanced over at Kurt, he couldn't help but marvel at the wonderful boyfriend he had. A wonderful boyfriend who loved him and would do anything for him. A strong, gorgeous, fearless boyfriend who constantly reminded him of just what it meant to be a good person and who he could truly be happy around.<p>

That night as they climbed into Kurt's bed, Kurt cuddled up into his arms quickly and started playing with his hair.

"What are you thinking about?" Kurt asked, kissing him on the cheek. Blaine smiled, putting a hand in the back of Kurt's hair.

"I hope we get married someday." He said quietly, looking at Kurt as he said it. Kurt's eyes grew even softer before he closed them, pressing his lips to Blaine's.

"I hope so, too." He answered, and rested his head on Blaine's chest as the two allowed themselves to fall asleep.

**Author's Note: Hi, everyone! Sorry this took so long, I've had an interesting experience moving in and getting everything ready. And my internet's faulty! My workload's really heavy, and I honestly shouldn't have taken the time to finish this tonight, but I finally got the end worked out in my mind and just had to put it down. These chapters are going to slow down a little bit since I'm so busy, and I know for certain I'm not going to get this story finished before the new season starts (according to my story calendar, it's only June 14). Hopefully this summer story has a good enough shelf life that you'll still stick with me!**

**Also, parts of this are going to resemble Pippin1987's story No Place Like Home in the Rachel-at-Blaine's-ness. I actually had this all in mind when I first started reading her fic, and like I told her, it's like we share a brain when it comes to this stuff (she even has a story called Summer Lovin'!). Hers (both of them) take a MUCH different turn than mine, though. Her No Place Like Home is one of my favorites, and I definitely recommend you check it out!**

**Hopefully this chapter-the longest yet! (but only because the boys decided to get horny on me)- makes up for the long wait :)**


	19. Chapter 19: Movement

As per usual, practice Thursday had gone to hell.

"Okay! Take five!" Mike called out from where he and Brittany stood at the front of the stage, facing the others on stage. Kurt was in center stage, with Rachel and Santana to his left and Annie to his right. Sunshine was supposed to be on his far right, but for the second day in a row, she hadn't come to practice.

"Five what?" Brittany asked, blinking over at Mike. Kurt rolled his eyes and stalked off stage angrily, picking up his water bottle as he went. Both Rachel and Annie looked as though they might follow him, but with glances to each other decided that it was probably a terrible idea.

"Nice job up there, Princess!" Jesse said as Kurt passed. Kurt raised his middle finger up without even looking at the boy.

"Fuck off, St. James!" He bit back. Jesse had been tormenting everyone in the cast all afternoon.

"What? Or are you suddenly not playing Snow White? Because last I heard, that's a…"

"I'm pretty sure he just told you to fuck off. Which involves shutting up." Annie said, stepping up to the edge of the stage and crossing her arms. Jesse looked her up and down, smirking.

"Wow, pipsqueak, that's quite some language for someone who resembles the little tea-"

"JESSE!" Rachel said, spinning on him from where she was trying to explain the concept of five minutes to Brittany. Jesse instantly shut up as she took Annie by the hand and the two girls walked backstage. With a loud sigh, Kurt fell into the chair next to Blaine.

"This was the worst idea ever." He whined, turning his head toward Blaine on his very limp neck. Blaine grinned, putting an arm around Kurt's shoulder.

"I hate to remind you, but you're the one who wanted to do this with a plot surrounding Pippa Middleton."

"Yes, but with the girl playing Rosemary in the How to Succeed revival playing Pippa and an ensemble cast including Neil Patrick Harris as Prince William." Kurt said, and Blaine chuckled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Kurt snuggled into his shoulder, making little whimpering noises. Kurt had been on stage for the past three hours, most of it spent working on this same dance. They had scheduled to learn it the day before, but had decided to put it off since Sunshine was absent. They hadn't given her such courtesy today, and had tried to learn the dance around the missing girl. Annie was holding up her belief that she couldn't dance spectacularly, to the point where Brittany had to physically correct her multiple times, getting Santana worked up. Jesse had been alternating between catcalling Rachel and taunting the others, sometimes managing to do both as well. All of this on top of keeping Blaine's secret was seriously zapping Kurt of all energy.

It really was a miracle that they had managed to keep the fact that Blaine was living with Kurt right now a secret. Despite his heart-to-heart with Mercedes, Kurt had decided against telling her because of the subsequent inevitable run through the gossip machine. That was one of the good things about Rachel: she was one of the few people in the Glee club who could usually keep secrets.

"I just wanna go home and sleep." Kurt murmured into Blaine's shoulder, and the older boy grinned and kissed the top of Kurt's head.

"Sleeping definitely looks preferable to whatever the hell Brittany and Mike are making you do on stage." Blaine said, loving the feel of Kurt's soft, silky hair against his cheek. He had worn it down today because he felt it went better with the striped wide-cut shirt he was wearing with his dance pants.

Actually, lately, sleeping looked preferable to most things. Because now that Blaine knew that he'd have a place to stay and wouldn't have to worry about being sent to live with his grandparents in New York, he could actually appreciate being able to curl up next to Kurt at night.

The night before they spent the night whispering and kissing until they finally giggled themselves to sleep. Blaine hadn't been able to stop thinking about how it was exactly how he wanted to end each night for the rest of his life.

But just because he was at the point where he was able to be that happy, he knew that soon enough he wouldn't be able to do that with Kurt for at least a year.

Because tomorrow Blaine planned to formally accept the Berrys' offer. If Rachel's constant probing about his decorative tastes were an indication, he'd be moved in within the weekend.

"It would be okay if they'd just move on since our first song is next." Kurt murmured. "It's slow so no stupid dancing."

"Which is why we're not going to get to practice it today, since it's a choreography rehearsal." Blaine said, grinning. Kurt pouted and pushed him.

"Whoa, leave room for Jesus, gentlemen." Santana said, walking up behind them.

"There's an entire armrest between us, Santana." Kurt mumbled as the two looked back at her.

"Doesn't cancel out the bedroom eyes." Santana said, bracing herself over them with her elbows on their respective seats. "Auntie Tana picks up on cues, boys." She continued, "And someone doesn't have a certain stick up his ass anymore. Or at least replaced it a different one."

"Oh my God!" Kurt leapt up in his seat, flailing his hands in horror. Blaine laughed and turned back to Santana.

"Does that answer your question?" He asked, and Santana frowned.

"You're really not fucking him?" She asked, and Blaine shook his head. She gave a scrutinizing look at the itsy-bitsy smirk he couldn't keep away while doing it.

"You know, you talk a lot about sex for someone who hasn't been getting her usual daily dose." Kurt said, primly sitting up in his seat. Blaine's mouth fell open a little bit.

"What makes you think that, Hummel? Just because Dave and I broke up doesn't mean that we aren't still…"

"You really expect us to believe that?" Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow. Santana blinked and looked at him.

"You know, don't you?" She asked, her voice much quieter than it had been. Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh my God, did you two hook up?"

"_No._" Kurt and Blaine both said forcefully, enough for Santana to back off a little bit.

"Sorry. But if you know, why was he able to run you out of this school?" She said, sitting down on the armrest of the seats behind them, still leaning forward. Kurt's hand took Blaine's and held tightly, willing him not to speak.

"He told me he'd kill me if I told." He said, fidgeting.

"Fuck." Santana said. "But you're not afraid now?" Kurt shook his head.

"No. But I'm still not going to out him."

"I don't see why. I would." She said, frowning and glancing at Blaine.

"Don't look at me. Kurt's a better person than I am."

"For the same reason I'm not walking around outing you, Santana." Kurt said, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up, Hummel! There's nothing to out me about." Santana said, glaring at Kurt and taking a quick glance at Blaine before looking back down.

"It's okay if you've 'gotta gay,' Santana." Blaine said, grinning. She scowled.

"What makes you…"

"I'm not _that_ oblivious."

"Oh, yes you are." Kurt said, and Blaine scrunched up his face at him.

"Point is, gaydar applies to ladies as well."

"And he wasn't even there to see you sing to Brittany." Kurt reminded her.

"What is your _point_?" Santana asked, blushing.

"That it's wrong to out people, so don't out Karofsky." Kurt said.

"FINE!" Santana growled, standing up to walk away.

"Oh, Santana?" Blaine said, tipping his head backward to see her.

"Yes?" She bit out, tapping her bare foot.

"You and Brittany really make a cute couple." He finished, and Santana blushed and smiled before walking away.

* * *

><p>"Oh, hi, Artie." Annie said as she and Rachel walked backstage to find him leaning over a prop desk, a notebook in hand.<p>

"Hey, Annie. Hey, Rachel."

"Artie, you know you don't have to be here today, right?" Rachel asked. Artie nodded a little sadly.

"I know. I didn't have anything else to do."

"So what _are_ you doing?" Annie asked, walking over to him. He leaned back so she could see the notebook.

"I'm working on writing lighting cues based on what's going on during the show. I have to redo it every time the choreography changes.

"Oops." Annie said with a giggle, looking up to Rachel who giggled, too. "Guess I'm giving you some extra work." She said, grimacing. Artie looked up to her, his expression confused.

"Yeah. What happened, Annie?" He asked. Annie's smile stayed the same, but her eyes fell just a little bit.

"It's been years since I've danced, Artie. I guess I've lost my coordination." She said, shrugging. Artie nodded, looking back at his paper.

"I forgot you took dance." Rachel said, thinking. "You quit when we were… what… ten?"

"Nine." Annie corrected, a sad little smile on her face. She shook her head, her curly ponytail tossing in the light. "Guess it's biting me in the butt now." She said, back to her bravado.

"Yeah, guess so." Artie said, a little quiet.

* * *

><p>"Okay, that's five!" Mike yelled, and Kurt groaned, sinking back into his boyfriend's shoulders.<p>

"I'm not going back up there." He mumbled, making Blaine laugh.

"Show must go on, kid."

"Don't call me kid, that's what my dad calls me." Kurt whined, and Blaine chuckled.

"Sorry." He said, leaning in and kissing him. Kurt hummed, kissing Blaine again as the older boy pulled back.

"Stay like this." Kurt murmured, and Blaine kissed him again, smiling.

"Guys!" Rachel yelled, her voice a bit of a squeak. Kurt glanced up to see Rachel, Annie and Santana back on stage, waiting for him.

"Kurt!" Annie yelled.

"Practice your song with Rachel, I'm busy." Kurt called back, making Blaine laugh.

"Clearly." Santana said with a snort.

"Come on, Kurt!" Mike yelled, looking a little frustrated from where he sat on the edge of the stage.

"I think you better go before they come rip you away." Blaine said, and Kurt sighed before standing up, leaning over to kiss Blaine one more time and starting to walk to the stage. As he walked, he felt everyone's eyes on him and he smirked.

"What?" He asked, hands on his hips as he stared back at all of them once he reached the stage. Santana looked him up and down.

"If you two really aren't fucking yet, I give it a week."

* * *

><p>"TELL ME, HOW MANY FROGS DO I HAVE TO KISS?"<p>

"Blaine."

"HOW MANY FROGS DO I HAVE TO KISS,"

"_Blaine._"

"UNTIL I FIND MY PRINCE? UNTIL I FIND MY PRINCE."

"BLAINE!" Kurt yelled, spinning back around on his boyfriend as the two walked back into the Hummel house behind Annie and Finn. Blaine grinned at him and Kurt had to resist the urge to tackle him right then and there. Instead, he fixed him with his very best bitch face.

"When I comment on not wanting to hear a song ever again as long as I live, that isn't a request for you to start singing it as loud as you possibly can."

Finn glanced at Annie. "I'm going to Rachel's. I suggest you run." He said. She nodded before scurrying out of the kitchen, leaving the two alone as Blaine continued to smile at Kurt.

"But you like to hear me sing." Blaine said, his voice low and teasing. Kurt tried to scowl, but he could feel the edges of his lips tipping up into a smile.

"Cocky bastard." He said, and Blaine smiled wider.

"You know there's so many jokes I can make out of that statement, right?"

"Then why don't you?" Kurt asked, blinking in an extra pretty way. It took Blaine a minute to remember what he was saying.

"Because you'll make fun of me." He pouted. Kurt smirked.

"Of course I will. But that doesn't get you off the hook." Kurt said. Blaine rolled his eyes and pulled Kurt closer by his belt loops, standing on tip-toe so he could whisper in Kurt's ear.

"Want to see just how cocky I can get?" He asked, voice cracking into a laugh at the end of his sentence. Kurt pushed him down on to his feet, laughing.

"That's pathetic." He admonished before pressing his lips to Blaine's. Blaine laughed as well before pressing his lips back to Kurt's.

"Sorry. I kind of lose my wit around you." Blaine murmured, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"You're terrible!" He said, pressing his lips back to Blaine's.

"You obviously don't thi-" Blaine started to retort, but Kurt's mouth closed back over his and his tongue slid into Blaine's mouth, effectively cutting off whatever it was he had to say. Blaine kissed back, wrapping his arms around Kurt's back and squeezing that perfectly shaped ass the two heard heavy footsteps and quickly sprung apart right before Burt walked into the kitchen.

For his part, Burt did his best to keep a poker face as he looked at the two boys.

"Hey, Dad, what's up?" Kurt asked, flicking his hair back over his forehead. Blaine did his best to smile, though he panicked a little as Burt turned his attention his way.

"Well, I came in here to ask Blaine what Rachel said about him talking to her parents tomorrow." He said, and Blaine nodded.

"She said they'll be home tomorrow afternoon, so I can come over and talk to them then." Blaine said, sobering up a little bit. Burt nodded.

"Good. Making sure that's all well. Carole's out getting dinner." He said, looking back over at Kurt. "So she'll be home soon." He said before making himself a glass of iced tea, stalling so as to not leave the two alone for too long.

* * *

><p>"Dammit, Blaine, I have that stupid song stuck in my head." Kurt whined from where he was slathering lotions across his face at his vanity. Blaine grinned from the bed; setting down a copy of <em>The Scarlet Pimpernel<em> he had borrowed from Annie.

"I only sang it once. The other five hundred times you have only Mike to blame."

"Yeah, but Mike's not here right now so you're the only one within blaming distance." Kurt said, turning and scrunching his face at Blaine, a streak of white lotion still showing on his forehead.

"I'm sorry?"

"You should be." Kurt said, wiping in the last of the lotion before getting up, shutting off the light and climbing onto the bed. He crawled over to Blaine, kissing up his chest over the fabric of his shirt. Blaine's breathing changed as Kurt did so, slipping his hands under the fabric and pulling it up over his boyfriend's head and off his arms. Running a hand down Blaine's bare chest, Kurt pressed his lips against Blaine's and the older boy moaned into his mouth as Kurt opened his mouth against Blaine's and slid his tongue into his mouth.

Blaine grabbed on to the curve of Kurt's ass tightly, making the younger boy moan into his mouth in return. Kurt grinded himself down against Blaine, making them both moan again. As Blaine released his mouth, Kurt slid down, kissing around his boyfriend's chin and neck.

"You… shirt… off…" Blaine muttered as Kurt ran the tip of his tongue around the various tendons of Blaine's neck. Kurt snickered, licking at his Adam's apple.

"Little demanding, don't you think?" Kurt asked, pressing his lips against the bump and moving his kisses down to Blaine's collarbone.

"Says someone regularly referred to by his friends as a prima donna." Blaine said, and Kurt nipped down on Blaine's skin. "God! Okay! That was terribly demanding of me and I'm sorry!" He said. Kurt released his skin from his teeth, lips turning up into a smile as he sucked at the skin, leaving behind a tiny purple hickey on Blaine's collarbone. Obeying Blaine's previous request, he pulled off his shirt, sliding his chest against Blaine's as he kissed down his torso.

Blaine became more impatient as Kurt drew lower, fidgeting under his touch. Kurt drew Blaine's drawstring down on his pants to allow himself to press a kiss right above what he imagined to be the band of Blaine's underwear, but found nothing but slightly hairy skin.

"Did you forget a layer here?" Kurt asked, running a finger over the newly exposed skin, making Blaine breath quicker.

"I usually just sleep in my boxers." Blaine murmured. "Two layers is too much."

"I hear that." Kurt said with a little chuckle, leaning in and licking the same stripe of skin, making Blaine hiss. Kurt could feel Blaine getting harder against his shoulder. He licked again and Blaine went to full attention.

Kurt pulled Blaine's pants away, leaving Blaine open to the colder air for a few long seconds before Kurt's _fantastic_ lips were there, sinking over Blaine. He let out a low moan as Kurt licked at Blaine from inside his mouth, trying not to move. Getting the drift, Kurt put an arm down firmly on Blaine's hip as he began to bob on Blaine's length. Blaine dared to keep his eyes open as Kurt sucked on him: lips red and swollen around him, cheeks hollow with sucking, hair flopping around his face.

Kurt glanced up to see Blaine watching him and practically smiled around Blaine's dick. Blaine gasped, closing his eyes as Kurt gave a kitten lick to him from within his mouth. He opened his eyes when Kurt tugged almost a little sharply at his balls, bringing his eyes back to Kurt who slid his mouth off of him. He started licking up and down diagonal swipes before sliding his mouth back over Blaine for a few bobs before repeating the pattern.

"Kurt…" Blaine murmured, and the younger boy did the pattern in a more exaggerated pattern, sliding his tongue through the slit of Blaine's shaft both times before sinking down further than he had before. Blaine moaned out Kurt's name again as he came, peeking an eye open to see Kurt successfully swallowing him down this time.

"No choking." Kurt said proudly, and Blaine laughed and pulled him forward until his lips were on Blaine's.

Kurt kissed him softly as Blaine settled down. Before long, Blaine flipped them over, rolling on Kurt and making him giggle before pulling down the boy's pajama bottoms and underwear. But before he could focus on putting his mouth on this boy's very hard dick, he noticed something else.

Butt.

Kurt's butt was round and squished out from beneath him, turning slightly red with the pressure of the boy's body. Blaine was so distracted that he reached out a hand and stroked down one ass cheek with his thumb. Kurt gasped and Blaine did it again before flattening out his hand and putting it below Kurt, stroking his fingers up between his cheeks and swiping over the entrance, making Kurt almost yell he was so loud in response.

"Blaine…" Kurt said, a little timidly, breaking Blaine's distraction and bringing his attention back to what was going on. His hand retracted from Kurt like lightning.

"Oh! Sorry! I just… I won't…" He said, squinting his eyes up. Kurt sat up quickly, cupping Blaine's face in one hand and putting the other on his shoulder.

"No, Blaine… it's just… don't we need, like, real lube for that?" He asked, and Blaine's eyes flickered open.

"Oh." He said, eyes fluttering around the room as though looking for some. "I guess we don't have that."

"Nuh uh." Kurt said, staring at him with bright eyes.

No, Blaine thought, they weren't going to sit here and talk about this. Not while Kurt was hard and flushed and ready to be made to moan out Blaine's name and come in his mouth.

"Well, anyway." Blaine said, rolling Kurt's balls in one hand and making his breath hitch. With a smile he ducked down and wrapped his lips around Kurt.

The younger boy moaned and threaded his fingers into Blaine's curls, tugging. Blaine bobbed his head, and he had to admit that he liked doing this with Kurt sitting, the soft pale skin of his stomach against Blaine's cheek as he sucked at Kurt and bobbed his head. With a few well-placed licks and strokes, Kurt came, muttering incoherently and collapsing back onto the pillows.

Blaine crawled up next to him, kissing his forehead lightly. Kurt's eyes flickered open and he smiled at Blaine.

"So… tomorrow… do you think you could buy… real stuff?" He asked, and Blaine's breath stopped for a second.

"If you think it's a good idea." He said, looking into Kurt's bright, reflective eyes.

"Yeah, I do." Kurt said, kissing him gently and starting to put his pajamas back on.

* * *

><p>The next day Blaine stood in the sweltering heat outside the Berry's front door for less than a second before ringing the bell, all apprehension gone. Hiram answered the door, his face lighting up when he saw the boy standing there.<p>

"Blaine! Rachel told us you'd be coming over today!" He said, gesturing for Blaine to come into the home. Blaine came walked into the cool interior of the house, slightly familiar with the surroundings. He couldn't help but be almost calmed by the eccentricities of the house. After growing up in such a strict environment, everything about the Berry household and Lima in general felt like a breath of fresh air.

"How are you, Hiram?" Blaine asked, putting his keys down on a table.

"Things are good, Blaine. We're making a lot of progress in New York, but I won't bore you with the details. Leroy will be right in, he's out in the garden. Rachel's back in her room if you want to go get her." He said, gesturing toward his daughter's room. With a nod, Blaine started walking through the hallway.

As he came closer to her room, Blaine's ears picked up music. Rounding the doorway, he saw Rachel standing in front of her mirror, eyes closed and singing into her hairbrush.

"Come on, come on, don't leave me like this, I thought I had you figured out…" Blaine rapped his knuckles on the door and Rachel stopped singing, turning around quickly.

"Oh, it's you, not Finn." She said, exhaling deeply. Blaine cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Why don't you want it to be Finn?" He asked, leaning on the doorframe.

"Because I'm practicing breakup songs." She said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Blaine blinked.

"You're breaking up with him?" He asked, standing back tall. Rachel rolled her eyes, though she crossed her arms, looked a little uncomfortable at the question.

"I'm not breaking up with him _now_."

"But you plan on it?" Blaine asked, frowning. He had thought Rachel seemed excited at the renewal of her relationship with Finn.

"It's kind of the basis of how we're together right now." Rachel said, walking up to Blaine. "We're together for the year. Then I go to New York and it's over."

"So you're practicing songs for the end of your doomed relationship?" Blaine asked, squinting at her a little bit.

"Basically." She said, shrugging. "It's kind of how we communicate about these sorts of things."

Blaine thought back to all the different terms Kurt had used for Rachel and Finn's relationship. The one that cropped up most in his mind was "dysfunctional."

"Does that… work?" Blaine asked, a little hesitantly. Rachel sighed.

"Not really. But it keeps things interested, which is really all I care about right now."

Blaine nodded; he was starting to gather as much about Rachel. It wasn't a bad trait; hell, before he had an encounter with a certain bad spy, he had just been trying to amuse himself through high school and get on with his life.

Well, maybe a little bit after that entanglement with espionage. His pride wasn't getting over the Jeremiah incident anytime soon.

"So why a 'take me back' song?" Blaine asked, having placed the song easily. Rachel blushed, looking down.

"Because I don't know how I'm going to actually feel come May." Rachel said quietly. "So I'm preparing for as many situations as I can."

"You know the one that happens will be the one you don't have an option for, don't you?" Blaine said. Rachel nodded.

"I'm not picking a goodbye song or a forever song. Just everything in between." Rachel said. Blaine reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him, big brown eyes shining at him.

"If you're going to live in the moment, do it, Rachel. Don't make yourself miserable for a year."

"You're really smart, Blaine." She said, and he laughed.

"Not when it comes to myself. Ask Kurt."

"Oh, trust me. I've heard of all of your shortfalls from dear Mr. Hummel, and let's just say that he can't even keep a straight face relaying them." She said, smiling. Blaine winced, and she genuinely laughed, linking their arms.

"It was a smitten kind of smile, Blaine. It was precious."

"Smitten?" He asked, blushing a little bit around his happy little smile. Rachel gave another laugh.

"You two are too cute! I can barely handle it!" She said, unlinking her arm just enough to squeeze his hand. "Now, are you here to tell my Daddies that you're going to be my new roommate?" She asked, and he nodded emphatically. Relinking their arms, she smiled.

"To Oz?"

"To Oz."

* * *

><p>"So, yes. I would really appreciate being able to take you up on your offer." Blaine said, smiling and gulping. Hiram's face broke into an immediate smile, and Leroy's already-there smile grew a little bigger.<p>

"We're glad to hear it, Blaine." Leroy said. "You're sure you've thought it all out?"

"Absolutely." Blaine said. And, really, what was there to think out? Blaine was sure that he could handle the Berrys' craziness, including extended time with Rachel. Actually, he was a little excited for it.

"Well, if you're sure, it's settled." Hiram said. "Starlet, when can the room be ready so we can take him off Burt's hands?"

"Well, I've bookmarked all the things we need to buy, and if we express-ship them, they can be here Monday."

"Sound good to you, Blaine?" Leroy asked. Blaine nodded.

"Perfect."

* * *

><p>Blaine waved Rachel goodbye one more time and put the car in drive, pulling away from the Berrys' home and down the street. A store. He needed a store, but didn't know where to find one. What type of store did he need, anyway? He knew <em>those<em> stores carried that stuff, but he obviously wasn't going there. He wasn't even eighteen, so he couldn't. But where did? He knew they carried condoms at Walmart… would they carry lube, too? Surely they did. Wait, did he need condoms, too? Not yet, right? But if they were going to need lube…

Blaine's knuckles were turning white as he parked in the Walmart parking lot, throwing the car into park and pulling down the visor. He flipped open the mirror and stared at himself. _Get a grip_. He clapped his hands to his cheeks, shaking his head a little bit. _Just go in and buy the stuff._ This was silly. _Kurt_ had asked him to do this. Kurt: his lovely, angel-faced boyfriend who happened to be really uncomfortable about sex stuff. He could do this for Kurt.

God, why couldn't Kurt be uncomfortable about something easy, like swashbuckling across pirate ships or leading a charge in battle?

Okay, those weren't very applicable situations to life in Ohio, so Kurt could very well be uneasy with those, too.

Aware of how distracted his brain was, Blaine swiftly got out of the car and locked it behind him before he could get back to dwelling on how much this was freaking out. Putting his keys in his pocket, he walked into the store.

He realized upon walking in that he had no idea where any of this was located. Avoiding the eyes of the greeter who he thought might sense his confusion and therefore ask him what he was looking for, he meandered over to the pharmacy area. That's where people bought this stuff in places like England, right? He didn't even know why he knew that, or even if it was true. Still, he started walking aisle to aisle, looking for what he needed. Upon coming across an aisle framed with lotions he didn't even want to think of the applications of, he knew he was in the right place.

He simultaneously knew he was in the exact right place and the exact _wrong_ place when he saw the Mohawk on the back of the only other person in the aisle's head. Even worse, he was turning.

"Oh, hey, uh, Blair, right?" Puck said, smiling.

"Blaine." He responded, glancing around nervously.

"Right, Blaine, Kurt's boyfriend. What's up, dude?" Puck said, turning over a box in his hand.

"Umm… not much…" Blaine said, standing stock still. Maybe he could pass for just strolling through the aisle...

"Well something has to be up if you're buying this stuff." Puck said, and Blaine winced. "Guess Hummel's less of a prude than I thought he was. I was totally expecting Rachel to be the next person from glee club to give it up, but I guess not."

"Uh…er… well… uh…" Blaine said, his eyes growing wide as he began to panic.

"Dude, first time buying this stuff?" Puck said, and Blaine nodded, his eyes still wide. Puck laughed. "No worries. The important thing is to buy it. If there's one life lesson I learned from knocking Quinn up, that's it. I guess that doesn't apply, but still. And be honest about the size, because otherwise they don't fit." He said. Blaine nodded. "Don't worry, man. You're getting laid! See you around, Blaine." He said, and left the aisle. Blinking, Blaine took out his phone.

_**Please don't kill me. –Blaine.**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>So curly boy IS hitting that! -$antana<strong>_

_**I can't believe Puck is going around telling everyone your personal business like that. So rude! Be careful, you guys. Do your reading first! –Rachel Berry **_

_**P ran into B buying condoms? –XOXO Mercedes**_

_**I better not hear any of what happens down there or I'll kill you and your boyfriend, too. –Annie**_

_**Call me if you need to hear about the dolphins and the unicorns! -Britney**_

Kurt groaned, looking up at Blaine from the kitchen table. Blaine swallowed, nervously shuffling from foot to foot.

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault." Kurt said, sighing and sliding his head down on his crossed arms on the table, the phone in front of him. "It's been a while since I've been first on the gossip chain. I had even forgotten Brittany misspelled her name in her phone signature."

"That's weird." Blaine said, scratching the back of his head.

"So you bought condoms, too?" Kurt said. Biting his lip, Blaine nodded.

"I just… uh… thought it might be a good idea to, you know, have them." He said a little weakly. Kurt nodded.

"No, you're right. I just, you know, would rather have found this out from you." Kurt said wryly, shooting an angry look at his phone. On cue, it lit up with another text. Sighing, he opened it.

_**You owe me 4 not telling ur dad. –Finn**_

Kurt rolled his eyes and tossed the phone back down on the table with a clatter.

"Welcome to McKinley, where no business is solely your own and privacy is a myth." Kurt said grumpily. Blaine's lips twitched up in a smile.

"You know it would have been the same way at Dalton. Worse, actually, since there's more out gay guys to stick their noses further up our business."

"Yeah, but at Dalton I doubt if you had run into someone in a condom aisle the whole school would have known about it within half an hour."

"Are you kidding? When Wes lost his virginity sophomore year it was the talk of the school for two days."

"Which ex was that? The blonde cheerleader from Crawford?"

"Yeah."

"That's why." Kurt said, rolling his eyes. "And, besides, Wes told everyone didn't he?"

"Yeah, I think he did."

"Totally not our style." Kurt quipped. Blaine nodded, trying to smile.

"Right."

Kurt lowered his eyes at his boyfriend, sighing.

"Get over here and kiss me and stop feeling so bad about this." He said. Smiling a little reluctantly, Blaine obeyed orders.

* * *

><p>That night, Blaine once again sat in Kurt's bed with a book propped against his knees as the younger boy smeared lotion after lotion across his face. It would have been a direct repeat of the night before had Blaine been wearing a shirt or actually reading the words in front of his face.<p>

"You know, you haven't turned the page in over ten minutes." Kurt said, turning sideways to glance at him. Blaine sighed, shutting the book and looking up, meeting Kurt's eye in the mirror.

"Are you upset your friends know that we're… doing stuff?" Blaine asked. Kurt set the bottle of lotion he was holding back down and spun around on his vanity seat, looking Blaine in the eyes.

"I told you I'm not upset with you."

"I know you're not. I mean… in general. I just… I mean…" he stumbled, sighing. Taking a longing look at his lotions, Kurt walked over and crawled up the bed, sitting down next to Blaine and putting a hand lightly on his chest.

"Blaine, what's wrong?" He asked, and Blaine sighed and tried again.

"I just… haven't been thinking of this stuff as… sex until this became a thing. It was just… us… doing… stuff… that felt good. But this is like a wake up call for me, and I know you were really uncomfortable with the concept of sex… and if this is a wakeup call for you, too, and it's too much I don't want to make you uncomfortable." He finished. Kurt smiled and lay down on Blaine's chest, looking him in the eyes.

"I'm okay, Blaine." He said, his voice happy. Blaine blinked, making Kurt snicker and press a kiss to his bare chest.

"You're… you…"

"It's still just us, Blaine. I've been doing the same thing. I mean, I guess physically it's… sex… but I'm totally okay with being with you like this. I _like_ being with you like this. I kinda love it." He said, an evil little smile on his face that brought a smile to Blaine's face and caused him to wrap his arms around his boyfriend tightly.

"I do, too, Kurt." He whispered.

"And I _definitely _love you." Kurt said, drawing a little pattern on Blaine's chest with his finger.

"Yeah…" Blaine said a little breathily, unable to focus himself into returning the affirmation. Kurt giggled and leaned forward, pressing his lips softly to Blaine's.

"Can I finish my face and get back to you?" He asked. Blaine pouted.

"You know that whole face thing is totally unnecessary, right?" Blaine said, eyes still closed.

"You'll thank me for it in years to come." Kurt said, pecking Blaine on the lips one more time and climbing off of him, admiring the little smile that spread across Blaine's lips.

_Years to come._

Blaine could live with that. This entirely new concept of referencing the future was working out really well for him.

Blaine watched Kurt finish his beauty routine before the boy stood up, turned off the light and slid up the bed back into Blaine's arms. Blaine couldn't help but run his thumb across one of Kurt's lotion-saturated cheeks.

Kurt swatted him away, making Blaine giggle.

"You'll mess up everything I just did!" Kurt pouted, pinning both of Blaine's hands down to the bed under his, looking into his eyes in the faint light tossed into the room from the nightlight Kurt had secretly bought when he realized how dark basements are at night.

"But it's so soft." Blaine pouted, and Kurt grinned and kissed him. "Oh, but it's okay if it's my face?"

"Yes. I like your face." Kurt said, kissing him again. Blaine grinned, rubbing his face against Kurt's and making the younger boy giggle. Wrapping his arms around him, Blaine rolled them over so he was above Kurt. He pressed kisses down Kurt's jaw and around to Kurt's other ear, nuzzling his face into Kurt's skin as much as possible. The younger boy squirmed beneath him, giggling the whole time.

"But you don't like my hands, Kurt?" Blaine teased, holding on to Kurt's wrists. Kurt gasped as Blaine slid his hands down Kurt's forearms, pinning him in place with his knees around Kurt's hips. He slid them up Kurt's upper arms, tracing down lightly over Kurt's shirt until he reached the boy's slender hips.

"Blaine…" Kurt whimpered, trying to arch up into him. Blaine grinned, sliding his hands under Kurt's shirt and placing his palms flat against his boyfriend's abdomen.

"Sure you don't like my hands?" He asked, smiling at the way Kurt was wiggling beneath him.

"Nnn-hh." Kurt groaned, shaking his head. Blaine responded by hooking his fingers into Kurt's stomach. Kurt moaned and looked up.

"_Fine._ I fucking love your hands." He bit out, and Blaine grinned. "Now will you _please_ put them somewhere else?"

Quickly obeying, Blaine stripped Kurt of his shirt and pants, and slid his own pants off as well. He couldn't help but smirk when he realized that with those items off, they were both already naked.

"So, who forgot a layer tonight?" Blaine asked, stroking his thumb across Kurt's hip. The younger boy grinned.

"Sounded like a good idea to me. Why, would you rather I be wearing underwear right now?" He asked. Blaine groaned; they were both already getting hard.

"Definitely not." He said, running his fingers down Kurt's side and making him shiver. He leaned down and licked a circle around Kurt's nipple and the boy gasped and squirmed, wrapping his arms around Blaine.

Blaine looked down at his boyfriend. Kurt's eyes were closed, his lips were parted and sweat was beginning to bead at the top of his forehead. The entire sight of him was enough to melt Blaine's heart, and he kissed him tenderly as he ran his fingers up and down Kurt's hip. As Blaine drew back, Kurt's eyes flickered open and he smiled at him. Blaine smiled back before kissing him again, stroking his hand closer and closer to Kurt until his hand was around him and the boy gasped against his mouth.

Kurt was entirely hard now, and after a few soft strokes he paused long enough for Kurt to open his eyes. Blaine took a deep breath and looked at Kurt.

"Yeah." Kurt said, nodding his head. "But… Blaine.. I just want to…" he said, trailing off. Blaine nodded, taking another deep breath.

"Yeah. Not… yeah." He said, biting his lip and nodding furiously. He looked up into Kurt's eyes and took a deep breath when Kurt gave him a soft smile.

Before he could second-guess this, Blaine climbed off the bed and walked over to where Kurt had stashed what Blaine had bought in the bottom drawer of his dresser.

"You know, I don't get why you get to be so fascinated with my ass when yours is so nice." Kurt said, sitting up and watching Blaine bend over into the drawer. Blaine blushed, but turned and gave Kurt a wink.

Or, well, he tried to, but it probably came out more of a blink at the sight of his boyfriend sitting up in bed, completely naked and hard, with that confident little grin on his face that always drove Blaine wild.

"I don't even know how to respond to that." Blaine said, blinking again. Kurt smirked, tossing his head back in a way that was simultaneously all Kurt and all bare neck and confidence and sex and… yeah… sex.

"That tells me I'm doing my job if you're not even going to thank me for the compliment."

"Who said I wasn't going to thank you?" Blaine said, pulling out the little bottle of lube and flipping it up in his hand. Kurt fidgeted a little bit on the bed, rolling his lips together.

Blaine climbed back up on the bed, kneeling next to Kurt. He reached out and put his palm to his boyfriend's face, all previous reservation of where he was allowed to touch gone.

"You have to make me stop if it hurts you." He whispered. Kurt nodded.

"I think it's supposed to hurt some anyway, but if it's too much I'll say something." He whispered back. Blaine nodded in return, his tongue visible between his lips in concentration.

Slowly, gently, Kurt lay back down on the pillows and spread his legs, and Blaine crawled over between them.

"You ready?" Blaine asked, and Kurt nodded his head, biting his bottom lip and feeling particularly vulnerable.

"Yeah." He tried to say, but his voice cracked a little. Blaine glanced up into his eyes one last time for assurance and bent down, kissing his lips almost reverently before opening the bottle, squeezing some lube onto his fingers, and sliding his fingers through the cheeks of Kurt's ass to his hole.

Again, Kurt gasped as Blaine pressed his fingers bluntly against his entrance. Blaine slowly moved his fingers around the ridges and puckers, amazed at the thought that he was actually feeling Kurt's ass. Kurt's body tensed up as he moved, though, worrying Blaine.

"Baby, you're going to have to relax." He said, and on sudden inspiration reached up with the hand that wasn't occupied and took Kurt's hand. His heart completely flipped over when Kurt suddenly lost most of his tension, the exhalation settling him down visibly into the bed.

"I love you so much." Blaine said, leaning forward a little big and bringing Kurt's knuckles to his lips.

The two smiled at each other just a little bit, and with a swallow Blaine started to edge a finger into Kurt. The younger boy started to tense up again at the weird feeling, but Blaine squeezed his hand and he forced himself to relax.

Once Blaine's finger was in as far as it would go, Kurt blinked a few times. Well, this was weird. Sure, there was a little drag with a dry spot for a second, but it didn't _hurt_. It wasn't anything special, but it didn't hurt. Of course, this was only one finger… and Blaine was quite a bit thicker than just one…

"You okay?" Blaine asked, and Kurt nodded surprisingly matter-of-factly. "Okay." Blaine nodded, too, "I'm going to move it now." He warned seriously and Kurt chuckled.

"Okay."

_Oh._

So, that wasn't expected. The movement and the pull of his muscles felt really kind of good. Kurt mewled a little bit, wiggling his hips up toward Blaine's hand.

It was Blaine's turn to blink a few times, gulping as he watched the look of enjoyment on Kurt's face.

"Feel good?" Blaine asked, slowing his hand. Kurt gave a little pouting groan.

"Yes." Kurt said, his hips starting to move as though by their own volition toward Blaine's finger even as he blushed at the thought of what he wanted.

"You… you want me to add another one." Blaine said, a laugh teasing to enter his voice as he watched his boyfriend's adorably bashful reaction to the fact that his body was reacting well to this. It was so _Kurt_ that he would be physically overcome by the emotion if he kept thinking about it.

The same could be said for how unbelievably hot it was that Kurt was getting so much from having a part of Blaine inside him. But Blaine was really going to avoid that one for now.

"Mmm-hmm." Kurt murmured, nodding and blushing.

Slowly but surely, Blaine added that second finger. Kurt's eyes closed with a little whimper, and Blaine grimaced at the stretch he could feel around his fingers. As he got his fingers midway in, he stopped.

"You okay?" He asked, and Kurt nodded, though he didn't look it with his eyes still closed and his mouth clamped shut. Blaine waited, his eyes trailing over Kurt's skin, carefully watching the tension in his forehead, the squint lines beside his eyes, and the taut skin below his lip.

After a few seconds, the tension began to subside until Kurt peeked his eyes open and glanced at Blaine before wiggling slightly. Blaine finished sliding his fingers in until the base of them were at Kurt's opening. Kurt gave a contented little noise that encouraged Blaine, and he and he drew them out and pushed them back in again. Kurt hissed at the movement, but as his fingers reached into Kurt, the younger boy gave another contented moan, this time a little louder.

Blaine continued, a little worried each time Kurt grimaced at the pull, but was relieved at the little noises he made. After a little while he stopped fidgeting and started moaning at all of Blaine's motions, and hell if that didn't turn Blaine on all the more. Blaine started reaching his fingers, moving them around, wondering whether this would actually work or not, reaching… reaching…

"AAAAH!" Kurt nearly yelled, completely bucking. Blaine couldn't help but moan at the sight of it, but he stilled his hand.

"No, no, you don't get to stop." Kurt muttered, fidgeting and groaning and whining and _God_ this was hot, Blaine thought as he leaned forward over Kurt, letting go of his hand to prop himself up.

"If your dad comes here, you'll be burying me under that tree next to Pavarotti." Blaine hissed, and Kurt giggled.

"Mmm, couldn't have that." Kurt said, clasping his hands behind Blaine's neck. Blaine smiled, but kept still.

"Really, Kurt, you've gotta be quiet." He whispered, and Kurt rolled his eyes and nodded, wiggling himself on Blaine's fingers, trying to return to that feeling.

"Okay! Just please don't stop!" Kurt whined, scooting down on him and letting his eyes flicker shut at the feeling. Well, he couldn't really argue with that.

"Fine. But if your dad comes in here and hangs me in your backyard before I get you to come, it's your fault." Blaine muttered, thrusting his fingers into Kurt and making him toss his head back as he giggled.

"That would be silly. Though if that happens when I come, I'm terribly sorry but at least I'll get to finish." Kurt teased, and holy hell, were they really talking about this?

Blaine leaned down, pressing himself into the sheets in order to get _some_ friction on himself as Kurt just about drove him off the end with his little high pitched whimpers, the bead of sweat on his forehead, the completely _wrecked_ look on his face, and most of all the way he was starting to basically _fuck himself_ onto Blaine's fingers… and oh my God… this squishiness could be around Blaine's…

"More." Kurt whimpered after stifling a moan from Blaine pressing his fingers onto that particular area of Kurt extra hard.

"You sure?" Blaine asked, and Kurt nodded emphatically, rolling his hips onto Blaine's fingers.

Blaine gulped. This was going to hurt his boyfriend, he knew it. Two fingers had been uncomfortable, and maybe a little painful, but three would hurt. He knew this. He had done this to himself a few times to see if he could get anything out of it, and each time he had chickened out on that third finger.

Blaine spread the two fingers in Kurt, trying to make some room there for another, and rutted down into the sheet as he felt just how tight Kurt was on his hand.

"Blaine, please." Kurt whimpered, and it was all Blaine could do to just rut into the sheets and press his fingers a little deeper and stretch them a little wider.

"I can't put another one in yet, it'll hurt." Blaine said. Reason. Reason was good. Reason was good, and reason kept him from thinking of Kurt begging and writhing around him…

"I don't care; I want more. Please."

God, this was Kurt. Kurt, his proud, feisty, in charge boyfriend. And he was fucking _begging_ Blaine right now. And, sure, he could be demanding, but he never begged. There was a huge difference there, and Blaine couldn't wait to explore that difference further.

"Fuck, Kurt, I…" He said, and took his fingers out, leaving Kurt swearing and thrashing about in frustration.

"Blaine, why, OH!" Kurt exclaimed as his boyfriend started moving three fingers into him. Kurt lunged his hips down onto Blaine's fingers and instantly regretted it, hissing terribly at the burning stretch.

"Shit, I told you it'd hurt you!" Blaine said, making to move his hand out, but Kurt stopped him.

"Don't stop. It'll stop. Keep there." Kurt rambled, willing his body to relax. He felt Blaine's other hand gently slip back into his.

"You're a stubborn idiot." Blaine murmured, pressing a kiss to Kurt's hipbone. "If you had listened to me, you wouldn't be in this much pain right now."

"Your scolding is turning me off." Kurt muttered, knowing it was a complete lie as he said it. Nothing could turn him off right now with three of Blaine's fingers trying to get inside him. _Nothing_. Not even the pain around the edge of his ass that was slightly beginning to fade.

"Oh, really?" Blaine teased, wiggling just the tips of his fingers so that they hit against the soft inside of Kurt and made him moan.

"Fuck of course not, just go further." Kurt said, and Blaine sighed exasperatedly and slid his fingers in a little more, pausing when the constant pressure of Kurt's hand on his grew tighter.

"I'm fine. Keep going." Kurt said, until Blaine's three fingers were as far into Kurt as they could go.

He had to get this over with, Blaine thought. One, he had to get Kurt off before he asked for any more, and two, _Blaine_ really needed to come at this point.

Feeling that Kurt was squeezing his hand a little less at this point, Blaine let go of his hand and wrapped it around Kurt in front of him. Kurt, his eyes closed from the feel of those fingers inside of him, gasped and groaned at the sudden feeling.

"Blaine." Kurt whimpered as he moved his fingers into him and stroked at the same time.

"I've gotcha." Blaine whispered, doing it again and hitting Kurt right where he needed it.

"_Blaine!_" Kurt cried, grappling his hands back around Blaine's neck.

"Shh, sweetheart, I have you." Blaine said, continuing to move against Kurt's prostrate and stroke him in his hand until the younger boy clenched up violently and came, babbling Blaine's name over and over until he quieted.

Blaine shifted up to him in the bed, pressing a few kisses to Kurt's chest before reaching his face.

He was beautiful, really, with head tipped back limply on the pillow, his eyes closed and his breath still coming out in hard pants between his soft, parted lips.

"Kurt?" He asked, stroking across his boyfriend's hairline with his left hand. Kurt's eyelids fidgeted, but overall he remained still. Chuckling, Blaine pressed his lips to the corner of Kurt's mouth.

"Mmmm." Kurt moaned, fumbling his hand down and taking hold of Blaine in his hand. Blaine sucked in air with a hiss at the unexpected contact. Kurt stroked him almost roughly, his eyes still shut as Blaine moaned and dug his face into Kurt's collarbone.

Within a minute Blaine came, biting into Kurt's shoulder as he came across Kurt's thigh.

"Ouch." Kurt joked, and Blaine sighed and licked the mark in broad strokes until Kurt pushed him away giggling.

"No off-the-shoulders for you for the next week. Or at least not that shoulder." Blaine said, smirking. Kurt rolled his eyes, leaning in and kissing him gently.

"Now is not the time to call you an asshole, is it?" Kurt teased, and Blaine giggled and kissed him again.

"Not unless you want to _open_ yourself up to some really bad ass puns." Blaine said, grinning, and Kurt kicked him in the shin.

"Ouch!"

"I'll just use that as my comeback." Kurt said, and Blaine was completely blown away by the way Kurt's eyes were shining and the little smile was playing on his face.

"I love you." He said gently, and promised himself to start saying it several times a day if it brought that look on Kurt's face. He wanted to keep that look on Kurt's face forever.

"I love you, too." Kurt whispered, kissing Blaine again. "Now go wash your hand so you can hold me."

"Really?" Blaine asked, laughing.

"YES!" Kurt nearly yelled. "Oh my God, Blaine, it's so gross." He said, and Blaine laughed and sat up.

"Ugh, fine. Germaphobe."

"There is nothing sanitary about that Blaine Anderson." Kurt snapped, though for some reason he was still smiling. "And bring me a washcloth. I'm completely covered in semen."

"Come get it yourself." Blaine teased, climbing out of bed.

"I still can't move." Kurt whined, and on second observation, Blaine could see that he was still rather limp.

"Oh! Uhh… are you okay?" He asked, trying to resist putting his hand to the back of his head. As much as he teased Kurt, it wasn't exactly the most sanitary thing in the world at the moment.

"I'm fine, I kind of just came harder than I have in my life, which you might have noticed if you weren't trying to get off in the sheets." Kurt teased.

"Oh, I noticed." Blaine said with a self-satisfied grin as he went into the bathroom.

* * *

><p>Annie strode into practice ahead of the boys the next day with her hair in a long braid and her mind running over all the things she had to get ready since Kurt and Blaine were being a little too gooey to handle right now.<p>

Or for them to do anything for themselves, she grumbled internally, seeing as she was holding all three notebooks. Kurt and Blaine had been so giggly and touchy that they had completely forgotten them in the car, and she had gone back to get them and started back for the building and _still_ was inside the auditorium before them.

As she came to the base of the aisle, she realized Artie, Puck, Santana and Brittany were there, watching her. Feeling a little awkward, she walked up to them.

"Hey." She said, turning to all of them before directing her attention to Artie. "I was just going to find you about a change I thought of last night for the lighting and the ball scene. "

"Hold on, Dorothy, we want to hear what you know about what went down in your house last night." Santana said, smacking some gum.

"You know I'm not from Kansas, right? And I don't know anything. I didn't hear anything, at least." She said, shivering at the thought of it. It may be only a matter of months, but Kurt was still her little cousin Bugsy.

"Don't play dumb, Annie. San, Britt and I stalked out the house last night." Puck said.

"That isn't creepy at all."

"Well, Sannie and I were really in the backseat so we couldn't see anything." Brittany said, and Santana elbowed her.

"We saw plenty. Like the fact that after Puck saw Blaine in the sex aisle, he went to your house and didn't leave."

"Oh." Annie said, internally panicking. "Well, uh… umm…"

"Here they come, they can answer for themselves." Puck said, looking up and nodding at where the two boys were walking in, holding hands and whispering to each other.

Annie turned back to them, horror-stricken, making a face that she hoped conveyed _don't come back until I've found a way to distract them_.

Heedless, the two walked up until Kurt paused, looking confusedly between the panel in front of him with their arms crossed and eyebrows raised expectantly and his cousin who looked like her face really had frozen like that.

"Something up, guys?" He said as Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist.

"Wait, neither of them were even walking funny. No way." Santana said.

"Pardon?" Blaine asked, his jaw setting. He didn't like where this was going.

"One of them chickened out. I bet it was Hummel."

"Excuse me, what's going on?" Blaine asked.

"Dude I swung around and picked these two up and we saw you pull up to Hummel's. And you totally didn't leave."

"But in order for you to have gotten laid, one of you would need to be limping."

"Don't worry, I would have been afraid of a unicorn horn, too." Brittany whispered conspiratorially.

"You've had sex with more guys than anyone else in this school." Kurt said incredulously.

"Yeah, but not a unicorn!" She said.

"Wait, what? Ugh, nevermind…" Kurt said, putting his palm in his face.

"How'd you get your dad to agree to that? My parents would never be up for something like that, and they're no where near as protective as Burt." Artie said approvingly.

Kurt froze. He looked at Annie, whose eyes were wide. He glanced back and saw Finn and Rachel frozen behind them, too.

It's not what you think." Blaine said, sighing and dropping his hands from Kurt's waist.

"Sure it isn't." Santana said with a wink. "What'd you tell him? Your parents were out of town and you were afraid to sleep alone?" She said, swinging her legs from where she was sitting on the edge of the stage and mocking a pout.

"No." Blaine said, a little viciously. "I told him my parents kicked me out. A week ago, when they did." He said.

The four mouths in front of him fell open, and Kurt was grappling to hold on to Blaine as best as he could, and Rachel rushed up to them while Annie stepped over. Blaine just stood there, watching them all react.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey! Miss me? I missed writing this! I actually put off a lot of studying I need to do to finish this, but it NEEDED to be done and off my mind. I can't tell you when the next chapter will be up, though. I have a lot of exciting things going on in my life, but I won't forget about writing this. It will finish, though I have no idea when I'll get there.<strong>

**Hope this slightly slutty chapter (or at least it felt that way to write) helps tide you over and keep you interested.**

**As always, thanks for the reviews, guys! I super appreciate it!**

**(Bye the way, isn't the new season FABULOUS? I have a few problems ****coughBlaineisnotajuniorcough*****, but overall it's seriously so great, I can't believe it!) **


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